Cryocooler Market Size & Share Analysis - Trends, Drivers, Competitive Landscape, and Forecasts (2025 - 2032)

Cryocooler Market Trends and Growth Drivers

Launch of Microsatellites Is Key Trend

• Recently, the focus of government space agencies has grown significantly on microsatellites, which are easier and cost-effective to manufacture than conventional macrosatellites.
• Moreover, a single rocket can launch multiple such space vehicles, which is beneficial when entire constellations have to be installed in the orbit for defense, navigation, or communication purposes.
• The emergence of micro and nanosatellites has opened up the space exploration sector to private firms, which promises to offer a host of benefits to citizens.
• In November 2024, Kongsberg Gruppen ASA signed a contract with the European Space Agency to launch a microsatellite for one of the precursor missions of the Arctic Ocean Surveillance (AOS) project of the Norwegian Space Agency.
• In August 2024, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the EOS-08 microsat with three payloads aboard SSLV-D3.
• Studies suggest that more than 2,300 micro and nanosatellites have been launched till December 2023.
• Since these satellites are small, cryocoolers are widely integrated into them to cool their infrared sensors and other sensitive electronic components.

Expanding Industrial Applications Drive Market

• Cryocoolers are increasingly finding applications in the semiconductor fabrication industry, due to the diminished costs of large-scale fabrication processes and the increased sales of semiconductors.
• Also, the demand for cryocoolers is projected to grow significantly for high-temperature superconductors in wireless cellphone base stations globally.
• With the energy conservation advantage of high-temperature superconductors, the downstream application industries will need more superconductor products, thus driving the demand for cryocoolers.
• Moreover, the rising need for cooling down IR sensors used in infrared thermography provides several opportunities to small-sized cryocoolers manufacturers.
• An infrared camera or thermal imaging camera is a notable application of mid-IR sensors and is swiftly adopted in space exploration activities for data mining and image sensing.
• For example, they are a key component of the James Webb Space Telescope of NASA.
• Besides, the sensitivity of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer is limited by thermal noise, and thus, to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), cryogenically cooled probes with cryocoolers are used.
• To cool RF coils in the probe below 10 K, Gifford−McMahon/Joule−Thomson (GM/J-T) cryocoolers are used.
• Furthermore, cryocoolers are significantly finding applications in superconducting magnetic energy storage for peak shaving.
• It is a direct electric energy storage technology that is solely in the early commercial stage in the energy storage market.
• The superconductor industry is firmly linked to the cryogenic industry, due to the working temperatures needed for superconductivity being below 130 K.
• Such cooling comes from cryogens or cryocoolers.
• Energy storage has become a key issue to facilitate the widespread adoption of renewable energy resources.
• Similarly, liquid hydrogen is expected to serve as a medium for storing renewable energy resources.
• However, the gas (helium or hydrogen) compression cycle cooling technique is expected to be used widely for the liquefaction of hydrogen, which suffers from high operational costs currently.
• In addition, cryocoolers also find use in cryopreservation, which is a process that preserves cells, tissues, organelles, or any other biological constructs by cooling the samples to very low temperatures.
• The technologies and understanding of cell and tissue cryopreservation have developed rapidly over the years.
• There is the widespread application of cryobiology in many areas, including reproductive medicine, hematopoietic stem cell treatments in cancer, targeted immune cell therapies such as CAR T-cells, and animal and plant gene banks.
• The cryocoolers are also massively used in the mining and metal sectors to prevent corrosion and wear resistance.
• Deep cryogenic treatment (DCT) is a type of cryogenic treatment where a metallic material is subjected to temperatures below –150 °C, normally to temperatures of liquid nitrogen (–196 °C).

High Cost and Performance Constraints Hamper Market Growth

• The growth of the cryocooler market is restrained by the high cost of these systems, which can range from USD 10,000 to USD 100,000, depending upon size, efficiency, and application.
• A typical cryocooler for aerospace applications that maintains temperatures of up to 2 Kelvins costs USD 50,000 on average.
• Moreover, a Stirling cryocooler consumes up to 300 Watts when cooling infrared sensors in defense & aerospace equipment.
• In addition, space and size can be an issue for space-constrained applications.
• For instance, a cryocooler that delivers a power out of 10 Watts weighs up to 10 kilograms.
• While this isn’t much, installation on UAVs, nanosatellites, and other small equipment can be challenging.
• Another constraint with these systems is their environmental impact, as most of them work with helium-4 or HFCs as the refrigerant, which have a high GWP.

Cryocooler Market Analysis

Type Insights

The Gifford–McMahon category held largest share in 2024. Due to their low price and versatility, Gifford–McMahon cryocoolers are widely used for cryo vacuum devices, nitrogen liquefiers, helium recondensation systems, and other low-performance systems prevalent in advanced scientific research. These variants offer low-temperature cooling to up to 40 K, long operations, reliability, scalability, simple design, low noise and vibrations, energy efficiency, and ease of usage.

The Stirling category will witness the highest CAGR over the forecast period, primarily due to the higher frequency and compactness of these variants. Further, their low weight and ability to cool to up to 300 K makes them widely popular in aerospace & defense applications worldwide. These variants are also not dependent on conventional high-GWP refrigerants, which makes them environment-friendly.

These types have been studied:

• Gifford–McMahon (Largest Category)
• Pulse Tube
• Stirling (Fastest-Growing Category)
• Brayton
• Joule–Thomson

Heat Exchanger Insights

The regenerative bifurcation dominates the market and it is also growing the faster, with 8.5% CAGR. This is because such heat exchangers are widely used in Stirling, Gifford–McMahon, and pulse-tube cryocoolers for military, medical, space, energy, and agriculture applications. This is because they offer higher thermal efficiency by capturing waste heat and reusing it, which also makes them environment-friendly. Other reasons for the popularity of regenerative heat exchangers is their compactness, better expansion-and-compression cycle, ability to work at extremely low temperatures, affordability, less mechanical complexity, low contamination risk, durability, and reliability.

We studied the below-mentioned heat exchangers:

• Regenerative (Larger and Faster-Growing Category)
• Recuperative

End Use Insights

The aerospace and defense category is the largest, with 35% revenue in 2024, and it will record the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Cryocoolers are accepted in association with sensitive electronics and sensors for commercial, military, or scientific space payloads. The most well-known of the publicly available LEO sensors are MODIS and LANDSAT sensors, with spatial resolutions of 250/500/1,000 m and 30 m, respectively. These applications' overall requirements are low vibration and ability to survive satellite launch vibration, high reliability and power efficiency, and long-term exposure to space radiation.

Besides these, cryocoolers are increasingly being used in the missile guidance application, as advanced guided-weapons technology is now a prerequisite of a modern military inventory. From very short-range anti-air and anti-armor missiles to short, medium, and long-range air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons, ballistic and cruise missiles now form a central element of the most capable national militaries. The increasing adoption of such systems is, in large part, a function of their perceived military effectiveness.

For instance, the recent advent of low-frequency pulse tube cryocooler has proven to be highly beneficial for cooling infrared sensors used in military applications such as missile guidance, range detection, and many others.

Also, the locally developed rugged cryogenic liquefication generation plants from EHL Group and AFCryo enable an ongoing reliable LOX supply for military or commercial applications. EHL Group and AFCryo's robust and reliable cryocoolers and liquefication systems embrace mechanical simplicity in the dual-diaphragm pressure wave generators. When combined with the lack of moving parts of the large linear pulse tubes, this connects to deliver a cryocooler ideally suited to the liquefaction of gases in any environment.

In addition, Northrop Grumman Space Technology has developed a high-frequency coaxial pulse tube micro cooler optimized for rapid cool down. It provides a 1.3 W heat lift at 77 K and a 4.0 W heat lift at 150 K, with an input power of 35 W. With reduced heat lift capacity, temperatures below 77 k can be achieved. A few miniature cryocoolers have the potential to meet microsatellite military needs.

By using R&D methods, such as computational fluid dynamics, particle image velocimetry, and innovative pursuits in vibration reduction and solid-state cooling, the potential to decrease the size, weight, and power is significant. Further research into efficiency is likely to lead to cryocoolers for microsatellite military applications becoming accessible for any electro-optical and infrared sensor, hence enabling the desire for inexpensive, more responsive, and smaller microsats.

The following end uses are part of the scope:

• Aerospace and Defense (Largest and Fastest-Growing Category)
• Healthcare
• Semiconductor and Electronics
• Energy
• Environmental Monitoring
• Agriculture
• Mining and Metals
• Transportation
• Others

Cryocooler Market Geographical Outlook

In 2024, North America accounted for the largest market share, of 40%, in the cryocooler market, owing to medical research and healthcare innovations and the rising investments in the defense sector. Moreover, the increasing number of cancer cases is one of the important factors that is expected to impact the regional market positively.

For instance, the Compact Cryocooler for Maritime Operations of the Department of Defense of the U.S. underlines the development of a scalable, compact, high-efficiency, low-cost cryocooler, which is capable of operations for maritime environments.

Moreover, the U.S. Navy has sought plans on using HTS in several applications, including degaussing operations of large surface combatant ships. The requirement specifies large cryocoolers, which are less sensitive to the impacts of size, weight, and efficiency than tactical applications. The Navy highlighted the movement toward smaller-scale applications in the future, which further fuels the requirement for novel compact cooling solutions. For example, the Navy's development of superconducting magnets on the order of 6–24" diameter requires cooling to cryogenic temperatures between 20 K and 50 K with 40–80 W of available cryogenic cooling power.

In addition, the presence of key players and the increase in product launches are driving the regional market. For instance, RIX Industries (CSA CSM) recently supplied cryocoolers for shipboard pilot and medical applications for the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78). The company offered its experience in providing the U.S. Navy with military-grade compressors and nitrogen generators for decades to design and manufacture a liquid and gaseous oxygen generator.

Furthermore, Ricor-USA Inc. has developed the K562S, a rotary Sterling mini micro-cooler. With a cooling capacity of 200 mW at 95 K and 300 mW at 110 K, it has been used in several small gimbals designed for military applications.

APAC is the fastest-growing market, with 9% CAGR, over the forecast period, driven by the rising usage of these systems in the healthcare, environmental, space exploration, transportation, and energy sectors. Other key market drivers in the region are the growing consumption of LNG and the expanding semiconductor industry. As per the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, LNG consumption in India grew from 5,630 million standard cubic meters (mmscm) in September 2024 to 6,699 mmscm in October 2024.

The strongest driver for the market is the expanding industrial sector in India, Japan, South Korea, and China, all of which rank in the top 10 around the world in terms of manufacturing output.

Here is the regional breakdown of the market:

• North America (Largest Regional Market)
  • U.S. (Larger and Faster-Growing Country Market)
  • Canada
• Europe
  • Germany (Largest and Fastest-Growing Country Market)
  • France
  • U.K.
  • Italy
  • Spain
  • Rest of Europe
• Asia-Pacific (APAC) (Fastest-Growing Regional Marke)
  • China (Largest Country Market)
  • India (Fastest-Growing Country Market)
  • Japan
  • South Korea
  • Australia
  • Rest of APAC
• Latin America (LATAM)
  • Brazil (Largest and Fastest-Growing Country Market)
  • Mexico
  • Rest of LATAM
• Middle East and Africa (MEA)
  • Saudi Arabia (Largest Country Market)
  • South Africa
  • U.A.E. (Fastest-Growing Country Market)
  • Rest of MEA

Cryocooler Market Share

• The cryocooler market is consolidated as these systems are expensive and technically challenging to develop and manufacture.
• Advanced knowledge of thermodynamics is required, which only a handful of established companies possess.
• Moreover, the criticality of the applications of this equipment, such as nuclear energy, military & space exploration, and healthcare, prevents small, local companies from having significant shares.
• Further, since most nuclear power and military & space exploration projects are initiated and overseen by governments, only larger players with a proven track record are approached.

Cryocooler Market News

• In May 2024, scientists in Colorado transformed a residential refrigerator into a cryocooler to create extremely low temperatures for quantum computers.
• In March 2022, Cryomech Inc. launched the PT310 pulse-tube cryocooler, which achieves a high thermal lift.