In this oligopolistic EMI shielding film market, in the world, only companies in two Asian countries have a full set of technology and intellectual property rights for the products.
EMI shielding film, a new type of electronic material film, effectively blocks electromagnetic interference by confining electromagnetic waves within a certain range, and is currently widely used in electronic products such as smart phones and tablet computers.
This field of functional materials is currently an oligopoly market. In the world, only companies in two Asian countries have mastered the full set of technology and intellectual property rights for shields made of special materials. One is Japan’s Tatsuta, Toyo Ink Group, etc., and the other is China’s GZFB Electronics. Material Technology Group.
The embryonic form of EMI shielding film was printing silver paste ink, which was used in early flip phones, but excessive bending could easily cause silver paste to break. In 2000, Tatsuta, a Japanese company established in 1945, took the lead in launching metal alloy electromagnetic shielding films, which met the need for multiple bending of flexible printed circuit boards (FPC). Metal alloy electromagnetic shielding films have also become the mainstream use in the market. For electromagnetic shielding film products, Tatsuta monopolized the market for a long time.
Until 2012, GZFB successfully developed an electromagnetic shielding film with independent intellectual property rights, breaking Tatsuta's technology monopoly, filling the gap in the Chinese market, and catching up with international counterparts in terms of product technology.
From its establishment to the listing, GZFB has been relying on its technical strength to achieve its electromagnetic shielding film products' market share first in China and second in the world in 9 years.
FPC upstream material domestic substitution pioneer
"EMI shielding film is a scarce high-end electronic material, which plays an important role in ensuring the normal operation of electronic products." Industry professionals use the "four highs" to describe the characteristics of this sub-industry: high technical barriers, high market barriers , High funding barriers, high scale barriers.
In terms of technical barriers, electromagnetic shielding film products have more complex raw material formulations, production processes, and quality control, and require a comprehensive grasp of precision coating technology, roll vacuum sputtering technology, continuous roll electroplating/solution technology, material synthesis and formulation technology, etc. Core technologies. At the same time, downstream applications put forward higher requirements for products. In addition to meeting the shielding effectiveness, they must also meet the requirements of lightness, bending resistance, and high peel strength.
At present, GZFB has produced an EMI shielding film product with a thickness of only 8 microns, which is only one-tenth the diameter of a hair. He has witnessed the difficulty behind the breakthrough in core technology. He used to solve the black ink and carrier of electromagnetic shielding film. The peeling force between the films has achieved a uniform, stable and controllable effect, and more than 10,000 experiments have been done.
In addition to mastering the complete production technology of metal alloy electromagnetic shielding film and independent intellectual property rights, and maturely promoted and applied in the market, in 2014 GZFB innovated and developed micro-needle electromagnetic shielding film according to market demand.
"This product has higher shielding effectiveness and lower insertion loss, and is more suitable for 5G high-frequency and high-speed environments. The technical level of the product has gradually caught up and surpassed the international advanced level.
The competitive landscape of the electromagnetic shielding film market presents an "oligopoly market" situation. Topaz has a market share of about 50%, and its products are mainly used in Apple mobile phones; Fangbang shares have a market share of about 25%, and its products are widely used in well-known terminal brand products such as Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, VIVO, and Samsung.
Consumer electronics is currently the main downstream application field of electromagnetic shielding films, and as 5G continues to be commercialized and improved, new 5G applications will bring new growth in the market. In the 5G high-frequency and high-speed environment, the demand for electromagnetic shielding films for single machines will increase, the penetration rate of electromagnetic shielding films in electronic products will also be higher, and the performance requirements for electromagnetic shielding films will be further improved.
At the same time, as electronic products further develop towards high-frequency, high-speed, and "light, thin, and small" trends, it is expected that electromagnetic shielding films will have more application areas, such as automotive electronics (new energy vehicles), high-definition displays, Wearable devices, etc.
Be the first in the world in the next three years
The main products of GZFB include electromagnetic shielding film, conductive adhesive film, ultra-thin flexible copper clad laminate and ultra-thin copper foil, etc. However, electronic shielding film, as its main product, is the company’s main source of revenue, and its revenue share has remained constant in recent years. More than 90%, from 2016 to 2019 were 99.41%, 99.23%, 98.78%, 95.99%.
The customer base of ultra-thin flexible copper clad laminate and ultra-thin copper foil has a high degree of overlap with the customer base of electromagnetic shielding film, which is beneficial to our market development. We must keep abreast of the progress of the project and strive for mass production as soon as possible. At the same time, we will continue to improve the product yield and strive to introduce these two new products to customers as soon as possible.
At present, GZFB has a total of 8 research projects. The company's product line expansion and R&D investment are mainly focused on the continuous upgrade of electromagnetic shielding films and flexible copper clad laminates, liquid crystal polymer films, flexible connectors for microelectronic packaging, and shielding and wave absorption Materials, high-performance lithium battery copper foil and other fields.
"In the next three years, the company will increase the market share of electromagnetic shielding film products to the first place in the world." The company will take the ultra-thin flexible copper clad laminate and ultra-thin peelable copper foil projects as a breakthrough to become a world-class high-end electronic material manufacturing Business and solution provider.
GZFB's ultra-thin flexible copper clad laminate, ultra-thin copper foil and other products have been mass-produced, but due to production capacity constraints, they cannot be promoted on a large scale. Last year, the company invested more than 1 billion yuan in three projects: flexible copper clad laminate production base, shielding film production base, and R&D center.