Consumer electronics to drive specialty chems

15 July 2007 23:59  [Source: ICIS news]

By Matt Kovac

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Asia’s electronic chemicals and materials market will grow by an average annual rate of 10% through to 2010 on stellar demand for consumer electronics in the region, according to industry forecasts.

Strong economic growth throughout Asia, rising per capita incomes and demand for the latest technology gadgets will provide fertile ground for specialty chemical producers.

The materials market will be bulging to $15bn in three years, according to data from US-based market researchers BCC Research ahead of Monday’s relaunch of ICIS Chemical Business (please see below).

Mobile phones, LCD flatscreen televisions, personal computers and gamestations are proving hot ticket items for Asia’s consumers, with China and India creating the biggest buzz because of greater disposable incomes.

For example, India and China’s mobile telecom markets serve more than 630m subscribers combined. Of that, China takes the lion’s share of 480m but India is expected to increase its share of subscribers to 484m by 2011, according to market researcher iSuppli.

Electronic chemicals players such as Japan’s Shin-Etsu and Asahi Kasei, the US' Rohm and Haas and Germany’s Wacker and BASF typically supply specialty electronic chemicals that contribute to producing semiconductor chips and other value-added components.

The semiconductor market is a telling sign of the electronics boom. Asia-Pacific is the largest semiconductor consumption market, has the highest revenue growth in the world and is expected to continue driving global growth.

The market is forecast to grow to $209.2bn by 2011 from $149bn in 2007, said US-based technology research and advisory firm Gartner.

“We forecast that semiconductor applications such as digital cellular 3G, GPS portable navigation devices, LCD TVs and mobile PCs will be the major applications that drive growth in the region,” says Singapore-based Philip Koh, Gartner’s research vice-president for semiconductors in Asia-Pacific.

“We predict that these applications will continue to achieve double-digit growth in our forecast period due to strong demand from the consumer in Asia.”

**An in-depth report appears in Monday's newly launched global weekly magazine, ICIS Chemical Business.

The magazine is a new publishing strategy by ICIS to draw on the power of print in the online age. It is designed to complement the market-leading 24-hour online ICIS news service which brings breaking news from around the globe.

ICIS Chemical Business in its weekly coverage will be features-led, providing its readers with the facts behind news headlines and in-depth market intelligence. The magazine, headquartered in New York, under the global editorship of Joseph Chang, provides coverage of key issues affecting the chemical and allied industries from more than 95 dedicated and specialist journalists in New York, London, Singpaore, Shanghai, Mumbai, Paris, Houston and other major world centres.

It has also broadened its coverage to previously untouched areas ultimately affecting the chemical industry, such as politics, socio-economics and end-users. The launch issue focuses on consumer trends and their impact on the chemical industry.

"As the chemical industry becomes truly global and booming markets like China are increasingly attracting interest from businesses around the world, it has become vital for us to reflect the global nature of the industry in a single magazine," said Penny Wilson, global editorial director, ICIS Chemical Business.

"Our vision is to broaden our coverage to allied subjects ultimately driving the industry, and never to be parochial in our approach or reporting. This is a magazine that readers will want to keep and refer to again and again."

See other features, free content and subscriber information on www.icis.com

By: Matt Kovac
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