Beijing time, October 26 news, China touch screen network news, touch screen technology was born in the 1970s, the U.S. military. In recent years, the iPod music player and the later derivative iPhone have become the driving force for the development of touch screen. With these two new applications sweeping the world, greatly promoting the development of touch screen. ISuppli once predicted that in 2012, the world's major touch-screen technology shipments will rise from $2.4 billion in 2006 to $4.4 billion. In the face of such rapid growth, touch screen technology and industry are also changing and developing rapidly. Due to the expansion of production by major manufacturers and the limited number of ITO film suppliers used in the two main types of touch screen technology - resistive and capacitive touch screens, the touch screen market has been plagued by the shortage of ITO (indium tin oxide) film supply in recent two years.

The demand of touch screen increases greatly, and the production capacity of ITO conductive film in upstream lags behind

According to Jiangnan securities analysis, in 2007, the demand for touch screens increased significantly, while the production capacity growth rate of ITO conductive film in the upstream lagged behind, resulting in tight supply, so the relevant manufacturers obtained higher interest rates. Jiangnan securities analysts believe that after the PDA market bubble in 2002, touch screen materials suppliers have not expanded for a long time.

According to displaybank's data, the total global production of ITO conductive films in 2007 increased by only 13.4% year on year. In 2007, the existing touch screen manufacturers were restricted by the upstream ITO conductive film supply, and the capacity expansion was hindered. In 2008, the total output of ITO conductive film increased by 71.2%, especially the leading manufacturer, Ridong electric, began to expand production capacity in April 2008.

In 2008, the supply of ITO conductive film changed from short supply in 2007 to balance supply and demand. In an interview with China electronic news, Hong Jinwei, President of Suzhou Hanrui Microelectronics Co., Ltd., said that the current supply of ITO membrane is becoming normal. At present, the production technology of medium and high-end films is mainly in the hands of Japanese manufacturers, such as Nippon electric, tailpool industry, etc. in the future, other materials, such as conductive polymers, carbon nanotubes, ATO (antimonytinoxide) and other materials manufacturers other than ITO films, will have an opportunity if they can well solve the problems of light transmittance and square resistance. Similarly, if domestic ITO manufacturers can solve these technical problems, they also have the opportunity to participate in the market competition.

Domestic ITO manufacturers compete fiercely and touch screen provides new development space

After more than 20 years of development, China's ITO industry has entered a mature period. However, due to the rapid development of its downstream display industry, new opportunities and new development trends continue to appear in the ITO industry. ITO film has two trends in the future, one is that the LCD panel manufacturer completes it by itself and no longer needs the external processing factory to provide coating products; the other is that the external processing factory provides a complete set for it. At present, the application seen is touch screen, which changes from resistance to capacitance, providing a new development space for coating products.

Due to the sufficient capacity of medium and low-end ITO products, high-end products such as ITO conductive glass for touch screen are becoming a new hot area of attention of domestic ITO manufacturers, and domestic manufacturers are striving to improve the level of research and development and product quality to cope with new business opportunities. At present, there are more domestic ITO manufacturers, and differential competition is the way for enterprises to take to avoid price war, the relevant person in charge of Laibao said in an interview with China electronic news. Touch screen is a new application area that LeiBao is very concerned about.

In an interview with China electronics daily, the head of CSG said that CSG is a relatively large glass production group in China. In terms of ITO conductive glass business, CSG is mainly positioned at the high end, mainly STN and touch screen related products. "At present, the overall application market growth of ITO glass is not obvious. Now we need to find new applications. Touch screen is a new direction." The person in charge said.

Integrating industrial chain resources to develop touch screen industry in China

Touch screen has been found everywhere around us. At present, there are several types of touch screen, including resistance type, capacitance type (surface capacitance type and inductive capacitance type), surface acoustic type, infrared type, bending wave type, active digital converter type and optical imaging type.

They can be divided into two categories: one needs ITO, such as the first three touch screens; the other does not need ITO, such as the last several screens. At present, the resistive touch screen and capacitive touch screen made of ITO are widely used in the market.

In 2007, Ridong electric, a manufacturer of touch screen high-end film, invested 1.8 billion yen to increase the production of touch screen electrode film. It is understood that the electrode film of the company consists of two layers of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and transparent electrode ITO layer (indium tin oxide). By changing pet into two layers, durability and input performance are improved. Input can be realized by touch. In April 2008, the company tripled its capacity.

At present, ITO manufacturers in China have a long way to go if they want to really enter the field of touch screen. From the perspective of the development history of touch screen, touch screen presents periodic development characteristics. Objectively speaking, the growth of touch screen Market in this round brings a rare development and transformation opportunity to domestic manufacturers. In the STN / CSTN era, domestic related manufacturers, which have greatly developed, have been suppressed by TFT in the past two years, and their business growth has been hindered. Driven by the development of touch screen Market in this round, relying on the previously mastered coating technology, many of them have achieved a gorgeous turn and ushered in a new high-speed business growth.