Passives

The Internet of Things is not only driving the electronic component market, but it’s also influencing the direction design/development kits are taking. While passives and connectors are changing to meet the new demands of IoT projects (for example many IoT nodes need capacitors for coupling, decoupling and filtering), manufacturers also are being asked to deliver smaller packages that deliver the same capacitance or resistance as their former larger versions along with excellent reliability and a high Mean Time To Failure (MTTF).

The CEO at the top vendor of nickel electrode powder in the world noted to me once that their ability to produce small spherical coated shapes consistently at a microscopic level far exceeded that of ceramic dielectric materials, and this would be a continued problem for years to come as the technology progressed.

A supercapacitor stores and releases energy in an electric field by physically separating positive and negative charges (unlike batteries which use a chemical reaction). Supercapacitors typically have higher energy density than other capacitors and higher power density than batteries. A supercapacitor is able to respond almost instantly and can routinely operate for more than 15 years with very little, if any, need for maintenance.

(Paumanok Publications, Inc. Cary NC USA) Tantalum capacitor lead times continued to stretch in March on a month-to-month basis as vendors and material suppliers tried to come up with a "perfect storm" of reasons for the sudden shortage of molded Ta205 chip capacitors. This MarketEYE installment suggests that the shortage of tantalum capacitors has led to exuberant buying of other passive components, especially MLCC, thick film chip resistors and surface mount inductors.

Conventional wisdom says that the way to grab headlines at a major conference is to hold all announcements until opening day then launch the new products with your PR agency and marketing department beating the publicity drums loudly enough to be heard for miles around.

(Paumanok Publications, Inc. Cary NC USA) Tantalum capacitor lead times continued to stretch in March on a month-to-month basis as vendors and material suppliers tried to come up with a "perfect storm" of reasons for the sudden shortage of molded Ta205 chip capacitors. This MarketEYE installment suggests that the shortage of tantalum capacitors has led to exuberant buying of other passive components, especially MLCC, thick film chip resistors and surface mount inductors.

This MarketEYE article covers the global market for medical “devices” as described by the United States Food and Drug Administration and the materials and electronic components that support them. Paumanok Publications, Inc. estimates the medical technology market, or “MedTech” market at $390 Billion USD worldwide and includes $160 billion in medical electronic devices and $230 billion in medical “materials.” The following chart illustrates the growth in the worldwide MedTech market between 2005 and 2016, when the market grew from $250 BB USD in value to $390 BB USD in value, which represents an average annual growth rate during that time period of approximately 4%. The dual engine that has growth in “MedTech” from 2005 to 2008 and steady state growth from 2012 to 2017, is the combination of an aging population in Western markets and to support emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China). The forecast is for the global MedTech market to grow from $390 BB USD in 2016 to $515 BB USD by 2022 to continue to support aging populations and emerging economies, but also because of the interjection of electronic solutions where materials have traditionally been used.

Conventional wisdom says that the way to grab headlines at a major conference is to hold all announcements until opening day then launch the new products with your PR agency and marketing department beating the publicity drums loudly enough to be heard for miles around.

As electrical demands in cars increase beyond the capabilities of the traditional 12V supply, automakers are moving to 48V power rails, which offer some attractive advantages: lower overall fuel consumption, a smaller environmental impact (especially CO2 emissions), improved engine performance and the ability to introduce a new series of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

Each year at approximately this time I offer the readers of MarketEYE a synopsis of the preceding year and outlook for the coming year. This year is no exception.