JPR Report: CAD Industry in Slow Recovery

TIBURON, CA-May 10, 2010 – Right along with the rest of the world, the Computer Aided Design (CAD) industry suffered severe setbacks in the recession of 2008-2009. Fortunately, in 2010 world economies are recovering and so are parts of the CAD industry. Because CAD tools are used in architecture, manufacture, plant design, assembly, tool design, mapping and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), recovery is decidedly uneven. For example the architecture industry was the first to feel the recession and it will take the longest to recover. On the other hand, the automotive industry, which saw a spectacular meltdown in 2009, is coming back more quickly. As with all recessions there are benefits to be realized in a slowdown and in some cases those benefits are already showing up in 2010.

Jon Peddie Research (JPR) estimates the CAD software market to be $5 billion in 2009. This is a 23% decrease compared to 2008 when the market reached a high of $6.7 billion. All industries in all geographies felt the effects of the recession. The market will grow in 2009 but it will not recover to the high levels seen in 2008, which was unnaturally fueled by financial bubbles. As difficult as the recession in 2009 has been and will continue to be for many companies, it will serve as a jump start for long term growth as many companies take the time afforded by a slow down to move to advanced technologies and retrain workers.

Inevitably, this same process is driving many workers out of the CAD industry. The contraction is tightest at the bottom rungs of the CAD work force where CAD operators or CAD drafters move on to find new opportunities. JPR estimates that at least 200,000 workers have left the CAD industry worldwide. In the coming years there will be increased opportunities for CAD workers who can take advantage of new software capabilities to increase their companies’ efficiencies. In the architecture related fields, these opportunities will come to people who can help their companies move to a Building Information Management (BIM) workflow. In manufacture, we are seeing new opportunities appear in improving Product Data Management/Product Life Management/Customer Relationship Management (PDM/PLM/CRM) workflows, and analysis. In all segments of the CAD industry, rendering is become a mainstream capability across the board as workers become interested in creating their own visualizations.

In 2010, the CAD market will grow to $5.4 billion, a modest increase of 5%. We expect the CAD market to fully recover by 2013/2014.