US market value to grow 11% per year through 2008
Demand for electronic chemicals in the US is projected to increase 11 percent per year to over $6 billion in 2008, led by extraordinary growth in lowk dielectric materials, as well as healthy growth in higher-value, high-performance products such as chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) slurries, thermoplastic packaging materials, and advanced photoresists. These chemicals will principally be involved in aiding the technological advances that facilitate ever greater circuit densities and smaller, lighter, more powerful devices.
Volume growth to also be strong despite downward pressure
Volume growth will also be strong at 6 percent annually through 2008, despite the shift toward highervalue materials, a continued emphasis on recycling and a shift by the semiconductor industry to production on 300 mm wafers that require less material on a per-chip basis. Thermoplastic polymers will be a growth driver, with volume increases expected to more than double that of electronic chemicals as a whole.
Demand for electronic chemicals is closely related to production and technology trends in the electronic components industry, with trends in the semiconductor industry, by virtue of its size and rapid adoption of new technology, having the biggest effect. Market volatility will continue to be an issue in the semiconductor industry, though to a lesser extent than that witnessed at the beginning of the decade when an exceptional decline in 2001 followed strong growth in 1999 and stellar growth in 2000. Chemical suppliers will need to remain diligent in order to capitalize on
opportunities and minimize losses.
Technological advances to drive gains in demand
Rapid technological advances within the semiconductor industry, such as the planned introduction of 65 nanometer lithography by Intel beginning in 2005, will continue to afford some of the greatest opportunities for growth. New materials such as low-k dielectrics and advanced photoresists will grow well above average, and opportunities will also emerge in existing technologies as chemical compositions are adapted for compatibility purposes.
In PWBs (printed wiring boards) producers will continue to emphasize advanced manufacturing abilities that enable the production of sophisticated, highly integrated, and smaller boards. Chemicals such as newer photoresists and etchants, as well as advanced laminates and packaging materials with the correct mix of enhanced properties and processing characteristics, will benefit. In passive components the growing use of thermoplastic polymers as packaging materials, particularly in capacitors, will spur strong growth in thermoplastics as a whole.
Study coverage
Details on these and other findings are available in the new Freedonia industry study, Electronic Chemicals, which study provides historical US demand data (1993, 1998, 2003) and forecasts to 2008 and 2013 by electronic chemical product and application. The study also considers the market environment, discusses relevant technology, describes industry structure, presents company market share data and profiles 45 industry competitors.
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