n-tech Projects Revenues for Silver-based Inks, Pastes and Antimicrobial Coatings to Reach $7.5 billion by 2021

News provided by

Sep 07, 2016, 02:25 ET

GLEN ALLEN, Va., Sept. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- n-tech Research has announced the release of a new report titled, "Opportunities for Silver Inks, Pastes and Coatings: 2016 to 2025." This report continues the firm's coverage of the silver inks and pastes business that dates back to 2008 and also discusses high-value silver coatings opportunities (especially silver-based antimicrobials) where we see opportunities for firms that traditionally focus on the silver inks and pastes business.

Additional details about the report are available at: http://ntechresearch.com/market_reports/opportunities-for-silver-inks-and-coatings-2016-to-2025

About the Report:

Silver inks and coatings suppliers have been seeking new growth opportunities with the maturation and/or decline of traditional business segments and the fluctuations with the solar power market. In this report, n-tech provides a guide to where these new and revived markets will be found.

The report examines where the opportunities are in traditional markets such as solar panels and PCBs, but also focuses on emerging opportunities such as the rise of the Internet-of-Things and wearables. Will these markets take over as growth sectors for silver, as traditional PCB markets begin to fade?

Yet, another area that we analyze in this report is the antimicrobial sector. Silver has long been recognized as a good microbial and the market for silver antimicrobial coatings is being boosted by concerns about hospital acquired infections and resistant microbes. The question here is whether firms who have been traditionally in the inks and pastes business can transition into antimicrobials.

As with other n-tech reports, we also include detailed eight-year forecasts in both volume and value terms, with breakouts by application, type of material and type of printing process used. The report also contains an assessment of the product/market strategies of leading silver inks, pastes and coatings firms.

From the report

Although the "printed electronics revolution" never really happened, there is still plenty of talk about printed electronics, a new breed of jetted is emerging from major firms such as Cabot, Showa Denko, Ulvac and Sun Chemicals. Several of these firms have offered nanosilver inks in the past, but now seem to be entering the market again with new products. These inks will find initial markets in niche markets, such as PCB prototyping and chip interposers, as well as R&D. However, by 2021, revenues from these new inks may reach more than $400 million as they find extensive use in IoT, sensors networks and wearables.
Revenues from antimicrobials using silver are expected to reach $0.9 billion by 2021. The driver here is the rise of microbes resistant to standard antimicrobials and also HAIs. n-tech also sees opportunities in the antimicrobials space stemming from materials innovations including silver nanocomposites and silver antimicrobials that can work on a variety of novel substrates. For firms from an inks/pastes background the best strategies for antimicrobials are (1) to exploit manufacturing techniques developed in the inks and pastes sector and apply them to antimicrobials, and (2) attack markets such as consumer electronics and wearables.
Traditional thick-film applications will generate more than $3.0 billion in revenues for ink and paste makers in 2021 but with low margins and commoditization it would be no surprise to see the paste business shift to China in the next few years.

About n-tech:
n-tech Research is the rebrand of NanoMarkets. Our firm is a recognized leader in industry analysis and forecasts in advanced materials and novel energy sources. Visit http://www.ntechresearch.com for a full listing of the firm's reports and other services.

SOURCE n-tech Research