Electronic chemicals under cost pressures

13 July 2007 22:12  [Source: ICIS news]

NEW YORK (ICIS news)--Electronic chemicals are under pressure from the end-consumers’ demands for low prices and the latest in technological gear, several electronic chemical producers said on Friday.

Consumers’ ongoing interest in technology creates a constant need for new electronic materials, said Yi Hyon Paik, vice president and business group director, Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials. Electronic devices are a more than $1,000bn (€730bn)/year industry, according to Paik.

Demand for innovative electronic materials is particularly strong as “the industry continues to push the technology edge with increasingly more advanced technology nodes,” said Rebecca Liebert, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Electronic Materials.

The semiconductor industry was forecast to maintain a roughly 10% growth rate during the next several years as the market becomes more consumer oriented, but increasing cost pressure is creating causing worries in the market and volatility is still a big concern, said Eric Johnson, president of JSR Micro.

JSR has noticed that many of its customers (whose products then go into end-market electronics devices) are rapidly consolidating materials to simplify their production flow and to obtain more attractive pricing afforded by volume purchases, improved forecasting and longer lead times, Johnson said.

Raw materials have been under constant pressure for certain feedstocks, particularly those tied to petrochemicals, according to industry officials.

Much of the end-customer demand is for entertainment and relies on the availability of disposable income, which can be affected by higher food and fuel prices, said Dave Lach, global product manager-electronic specialty materials, Air Products Electronics. If the general world economy remains stable, and if new economies in Asia or Eastern Europe continue to modernise, the industry will remain strong, said Lach.

By: Ivan Lerner
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