Abstract
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS
- The global market for thermal management technologies increased from $6.2
billion in 2007 to an estimated $6.8 billion by the end of 2008. It should
reach $11.1 billion by 2013, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.3%.
- Thermal management hardware accounts for more than 80% of the total
thermal management market.
- The largest end-markets for thermal management technologies in 2007 were
the computer industry (57% of total revenues) and telecommunications (16%). By
2013, medical and office electronics should move into a tie for second place
with telecommunications, each with a 12% market share.
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, there has been tremendous progress, technologically and in
terms of demand, in electronic devices and systems. The technological progress
has come on two main fronts - increased functionality on a single device unit
and miniaturization of each unit. Both of these developments have increased
the need for thermal management technology.
Management of the thermal properties of a system and designing an optimal
solution to cater to modern power dissipation are the cornerstones of thermal
management today. This study is about the market for components of electronic
devices and systems that aid in the dissipation of excess thermal energy.
"Thermal management" is the term used to describe the array of problem-solving
design tools and material technologies that systems manufacturers apply to
regulate the unwanted heat caused by the normal functioning of an electronic
system.
The trend line of the thermal management industry follows the development of
technology in the semiconductor, microprocessor, and computer industries. For
every advance in the performance of these systems, there is a corresponding
increase in the operating heat generated by the system.
To simply say, however, that the demand for thermal management products has
increased as the requirements of applications increased does not do justice to
the unique character of this industry. It would probably be more accurate to
state that the development of thermal management as an industry is the result
of a synergy of solutions constantly engineered to manage excess heat in
today' s electronic systems.
Products in this report have been grouped into four segment areas: hardware,
software, interfaces, and substrates. The hardware segment includes several
product subsegments. Heat sinks, fans and blowers, fan sinks, heat pipes, and
cold plates were chosen for the hardware segment as they are established
technologies and represent revenue markets of significant size.
The software segment consists of electronic design software that models and
analyzes the thermal characteristics of the design of an electronic system.
Specific types of thermal management software examined in this study include
computational fluid design (CFD), computational heat transfer (CHT), power
management, circuit design, and other EDA (electronic design automation).
While the interface product line primarily attaches the heat sink to the
system, several other product subsegments in this technology are being applied
to dissipate heat in applications where there is no room for a conventional
heat sink. The categories of interfaces covered in this segment are thermal
grease, thermal compounds, thermal pads, adhesive films and tapes, and epoxy.
Finally, the report looks at substrates. The report focuses the analysis of
the substrate market on two emerging package- and component-level products:
thermally enhanced packages and heat spreaders.
SCOPE OF STUDY
This report contains:
- Descriptions of various thermal management products including hardware
such as heat sinks, fans, blowers, fan sinks, heat pipes and cold plates,
software such as computational fluid design, computational heat transfer,
power management and circuit design, interfaces such as thermal grease,
thermal compounds, thermal pads, adhesive films, tapes and epoxies, and
substrates such as thermally enhanced packages and heat spreaders
- The current global market status for thermal management technologies, with
trends and forecasts for growth over the next 5 years
- Discussion of the competitive aspects of each product segment
- A survey of recent U.S. thermal management patents and patent applications
- Profiles of leading thermal management suppliers.
METHODOLOGY
The findings and conclusions of this report are based on information gathered
from a variety of sources. The primary sources of information were Internet
searches and industry association data and interviews conducted with thermal
management component suppliers, custom engineering companies, and
manufacturers of representative applications. In addition, other secondary
sources were consulted for the report, including industry journals and
publications, product literature, white papers and technical journals, and
financial reports for industry suppliers.
The base year for analysis and projection is 2007. With 2007 as a baseline,
market projections were developed for 2008 to 2013. These projections are
based on a combination of a consensus among the primary contacts combined with
our understanding of the key market drivers and their impact from a historical
and analytical perspective. The analytical methodologies used to generate the
market estimates are described in detail in the market analysis.
All dollar projections presented in this report are in 2007 constant dollars.
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