1. Industry overview
As shown in the figure above, from 1993 to 2016 for more than 20 years, the market sales volume and sales amount of circuit protection components in the first ten years have increased steadily; since 2003, it has benefited from digital technology, communication technology, and new energy. With the development of new technologies, the market demand for circuit protection components is showing a rapid growth trend.
According to a report by the market research organization Paumanok Publications Inc., between 2011 and 2016, the annual compound growth rate of the global circuit protection component market demand will reach 9.74%, and the total global demand for circuit protection components will reach 9.74% by 2016 176.146 billion; the compound annual growth rate of sales is 6.68%, and the total market will reach 7.772 billion US dollars by 2016.
2. Industry distribution
At present, global circuit protection components are mainly provided by manufacturers in the United States and Japan; in 2010, the United States and Japan sold circuit protection components totaling approximately US$3.232 billion, accounting for 61.52% of total global sales. In Europe, traditional circuit protection component manufacturers, such as EPCOS in Germany, Mersen (GCL) in France, Schurter in Switzerland, NXP in the Netherlands, and ST Microelectronics (a merger of Thomson Semiconductors in France and SGS Microelectronics in Italy), etc. The competitive advantage in the device field is still very competitive as a whole. The total sales of European manufacturers in 2010 were approximately US$1.198 billion, accounting for 22.80% of the total global sales.
While South Korea, China (including Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the mainland) and other countries and regions do not have strong competitiveness in the production of circuit protection components, but in the subdivisions where they have established competitive advantages, they have It has a great advantage in terms of cost performance.
According to the sales statistics in 2010, the sales value ratio of over-current protection components and over-voltage protection components is about 1:1; the largest segment of sales is fuses, reaching 1.531 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for the total sales 29.14%, followed by resettable fuse products, reaching 643 million US dollars, accounting for 12.24% of total sales, as shown below (by sales):
3. Demand market
From the perspective of downstream applications, electronic products are the largest application market for circuit protection components. According to a research report by Paumanok Publications Inc., in 2010, the global consumption of circuit protection components totaled 5.254 billion US dollars, of which 2.837 billion US dollars were consumed in the electronic product sector, accounting for about 54% of the total consumption, and the industrial and automotive electronics sectors respectively consumed 1.509 billion US dollars. U.S. dollars and 641 million U.S. dollars, accounting for 29% and 12% of total consumption, and 266 million U.S. dollars in other areas, accounting for about 5% of total consumption. The development of electronic products is fast, and their updates follow "Moore's Law". Moore's Law means that the performance of electronic products can be doubled every 18 months), which is the main driving force for the rapid development of circuit protection components.
From the perspective of the regional distribution of the demand for circuit protection components, the Asia-Pacific region is the main consumption area of circuit protection components; a research report by Paumanok Publications Inc. pointed out that the estimated consumption of circuit protection components in Asia in 2011 reached 2.828 billion US dollars, approximately It accounts for 50% of total global consumption.
This is mainly because Asia, especially China, has become an important production base for global electronic products; at the same time, countries such as China and India have developed rapidly, automobiles have gradually become popular, and industrial fields such as electricity, communications, construction, and chemicals have accelerated. These all require the consumption of a large number of circuit protection components.
4. Development trend
(1) The global demand for circuit protection components is growing steadily
New technologies such as the Internet of Things, new energy, smart grid, high-speed railway, communications, and digital technology are driving revolutionary changes in the electronic power industry, and the electronic power industry will enter a new round of rapid development. Circuit protection components are the safety components of various circuit systems. The rapid development of the electronic power industry will drive the market demand for circuit protection components.
At the same time, countries around the world, especially developed countries such as Europe and the United States, have continuously improved the reliability and safety requirements of electronic and power products. It is necessary to correspondingly increase the use density of circuit protection components to drive the use of circuit protection components. According to the forecast of Paumanok Publications Inc., from 2014 to 2016, the global circuit protection component industry will continue to maintain a stable development trend, and the market growth rate will remain at about 6% to 8%.
(2) The application field continues to deepen, and new products and new technologies continue to emerge
With the continuous development of electronic power technology, the application field of circuit protection components is constantly deepening, and manufacturers are constantly developing new products and new technologies. For example, in electronic products (including automotive electronics), the density of printed circuit boards continues to increase, and the working voltage of semiconductor components and integrated circuits continues to decrease. Manufacturers use surface mount technology, chip multilayer ceramic technology, array technology, etc. New technology develops products that are small in size and meet the needs of low-voltage and high-current circuit protection; for example, overcurrent protection fuses for circuit protection of photovoltaic power generation systems, power fuses for circuit protection of electric vehicle power systems, and high-speed rail The components of power system circuit protection are all new products and new technologies developed by manufacturers in response to the development of application fields in recent years.
It is foreseeable that in the future electronic power technology will continue to develop, and domestic and foreign circuit protection component manufacturers will continue to vigorously develop new products and new technologies to provide suitable and safe circuit protection components for various application fields.
(3) The internationalization of the industry has a clear division of labor, and the production base is accelerating the transfer to the Asian region
At present, the circuit protection component industry has formed a clear international division of labor: the core technologies and standards for the development of leading industries are mastered by companies in developed countries such as Europe, America and Japan; companies in countries and regions such as South Korea and Taiwan have some key technologies, and It has certain advantages in product design and manufacturing; China, India, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and other Asian countries and regions have become the main sales markets for circuit protection components.
Because Asia has become the main sales market of the industry and the labor cost is low, leading international circuit protection component manufacturers such as Littelfuse, CooperBussmann (now renamed Eaton Electronics), TE Connectivity, STMicroelectronics, etc. have set up production in China, India and other Asian countries Base, shift the focus of production to Asia. On the basis of introduction and absorption, manufacturers in the circuit protection industry in China, represented by Hollyland Technology, utilize market advantages, strengthen independent research and development, continue to innovate and develop, and gradually grow into an important supplier of circuit protection components worldwide.
(4) The industry's merger and reorganization boom will continue
Restructuring and mergers are one of the most important ways for companies to strengthen their strength, enhance their competitiveness, rapidly increase their market share, and promote their globalization strategy. Littelfuse, the world's largest supplier of circuit protection components, acquired Wickmann, a major supplier of fuses for digital electronic products in Europe, and increased its market share of fuse. It also entered the overvoltage protection component market through the acquisition of Semitror and Teccor.
Cooper Bussmann, the world’s largest fuse supplier, has successively acquired Save Fusetech, Sure Power and Omnix, continuously strengthening its leading position in the fuse field, and acquired Xi’an Fuse Manufacturing Company in 2006 to enter the Chinese market. Eaton acquired at the end of 2012 Cooper Bussmann. Other circuit protection component manufacturers, such as Mersen (GCL), AVX, etc., have also undergone one or more mergers and reorganizations. With the continuous adjustment of the supply and demand structure of the global circuit protection components market, leading international manufacturers have accelerated the pace of industrial adjustment on a global scale, and the wave of industry mergers and reorganizations will continue.
