How will Consumer Electronics and Manufacturing Industries Fuel Boom of Global Liquid Crystal Polymer Market?

The biggest factor propelling the demand for liquid crystal polymers (LCP) is the increasing sales of consumer electronic devices across the world. There has been a huge growth in the utilization of consumer electronic devices, mainly due to the soaring population and rising per capita income of the people in various developing nations, such as India, China, Indonesia, and Brazil. As per Ericsson Mobility Report 2017, the number of consumer electronic users across the globe would increase from 480 million to 670 million from 2017 to 2022.

LCPs, on account of their appreciable mechanical and electrical properties, have contributed massively to the development of consumer electronics goods, including smartphones, light emitting diode (LED) TVs, microwaves, and computers. The burgeoning need for LCPs for the manufacturing of automotive components and medical equipment is another important factor boosting the production of these materials throughout the world. For instance, Toray Industries Inc. and Kuraray Co. Ltd. have increased their production of LCPs, in order to meet the rising demand for these materials.

LCPs boast numerous characteristics such as excellent mechanical property retention, high dimensional stability, brilliant dielectric strength, and exceptional strength at extreme temperatures, which make them highly useful as a packaging material and n optimal electronic substrate for high-frequency circuit boards, commonly used in consumer electronic products. In addition to this, they are widely used in the manufacturing of semiconductors, owing to their excellent electrical properties, and this contributes to their mushrooming demand all around the world.

Globally, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region registered the highest demand for liquid crystal polymers in the past. This is primarily ascribed to the presence of well-established semiconductor manufacturing companies and hubs in several APAC countries, such as China, Japan, and Taiwan. In addition to this, the rapidly surging consumer electronics industry in countries such as Vietnam and India played a major role in boosting the growth of the liquid crystal polymer market in the region till 2017.

Hence, it can be undoubtedly said that owing to the thriving manufacturing and consumer electronics industries, especially in the APAC region, and the burgeoning need for consumer electronics devices across the world, the demand for liquid crystal polymers is expected to observe tremendous growth in the coming years.