SHENZHEN, China, December 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The continuous downturn faced by the international economy since the beginning of the year has adversely affected the growth of the entire electronics industry. Almost all electronic components manufacturers are facing tough times and are unable to find a way out of a sluggish global electronics market.
Thanks to the growth of emerging industries such as smart home technologies, green energy, new energy resources, the Internet, optical communications and more, China's electronics market has continued to develop rapidly. In this context, the 14th China Hi-Tech Fair ELEXCON (ELEXCON2012) held on November 16, 2012 is a good barometer of the Chinese electronics market.
With a total exhibition area of 15,000 square meters, the fair had exhibitors from nearly 300 top local and international companies, continuing on the success of previous fairs. The fair's theme was "Leading smart technologies and services in the electronics industry, together with ELEXCON!" The aim was to exhibit various new components, materials, equipment, latest technologies and products. In addition to traditional technologies and products, this year's fair highlighted cutting-edge technical applications such as smart home technologies, environment and energy, smart planet, flexible manufacturing systems, cross-border integration and others.
International manufacturers continued to deeply explore the potential of Chinese market
The downturn in the global electronics market has forced international electronics manufacturers to adjust their product strategy accordingly. The vendors see the Chinese market as an important strategic developing market, and have deeply expanded their Chinese operations. Improving market share in China has become an important strategic objective of international electronics manufacturers. As an important annual event for international electronics manufacturers to open up the Chinese electronics market, ELEXCON has attracted a large number of overseas exhibitors, especially Japanese manufacturers, in each of the ELEXCONs held during previous years. At the exhibition grounds, ROHM, Panasonic, Murata, TDK, Taiyo Yuden, Nichicon, Nippon Chemi-Con, Kyocera and other international leading manufacturers have spared no effort to display the latest products and technologies, and have included products such as the world's smallest monolithic ceramic capacitor introduced by Murata, the world's first mass produced "SiC" power modules released by ROHM, the industry's thinnest PGS graphite film launched by Panasonic to release and diffuse the heat generated by heat sources such as CPUs, processors, power amplifiers and cameras, and more.
The MURATA BOY robot is displayed by Murata at every ELEXCON, and this year's MURATA BOY had integrated another new technology - a gesture control sensor, which enables the operator to command the MURATA BOY with visual gestures that are interpreted by MURATA BOY, instead of using a tablet PC.
Despite adverse economy, Chinese local vendors grew rapidly with the fast development of China's electronics market
Among the exhibitors at this year's ELEXCON, local manufacturers such as Eyang, Sunlord, Adtech, Mornsun, Lierda and more garnered a high profile and displayed their latest products to compete with international manufacturers on the same stage. While the large number of manufacturers participating in the exhibition reflected the attention paid by global suppliers to the Chinese market, it also witnessed the rise of China's domestic manufacturers.
In recent years, Eyang Technology Co., Ltd., has developed microminiaturized and ultra-miniaturized product lines, and has made certain achievements. The size of its chip multilayer ceramic capacitor has been developed from 0603-type to 0402-type, which is the mainstream specification in the market. Its 0201-type MLCC production volume has exceeded 7 billion, and mass production of its 01005-type products has begun this year.
As per Sunlord's representatives, the global induction production is being transferred to China. Sunlord has been the first to enter the field of LTCC, and has begun production of LTCC antennas, LTCC filters and other new products.
Complete development of equipment and components, ensures strong growth in industrial development
Equipment and production technology are core factors determining the technological advancement of the electronic components industry. Only with the support of better equipment and raw materials can a company achieve greater breakthroughs in the development of components and products. As one of the most influential local electronics exhibition in China, ELEXCON brought together a group of excellent raw material and equipment manufacturers, including Alpha, Robostar, Nordson, Adtech, Saejong and other equipment manufacturers, as well as Meixin, Rockbond, Darbond and other material and component manufacturers, which provided a mature industry supply chain and supported services to the electronic components industry.
The continuously increasing costs, labor shortage, ever-changing industry environment, current high investment status in equipment and flexible manufacturing requirements impelled the manufacturers to continue to seek multi-functional automation equipment that are highly flexible. To deal with this problem, industrial robots are the most typical automated factory system in the field of manufacturing. In this year's ELEXCON, more than 10 equipment manufacturers displayed their latest industrial robot systems. The industrial robots' operation demonstration during the exhibition became a core focal point for visitors at the exhibition hall.
High-end forums guide major emerging industries and blue ocean market
In addition to the wonderful exhibition stalls, five professional forums were held at ELEXCON, covering hot topics such as passive components, smart TV and digital homes, power quality management, electric vehicles and charging devices, industrial robots and factory automation, and others. These forums brought together more than 30 experts in the respective fields, and had an audience of thousands of professionals to discuss the most popular topics in the current electronics industry during the three-day event.
With the recession of the entire electronics market, electronic component manufacturers are facing tremendous pressure on the environment and transformation challenges. How to reverse the situation and successfully transform is an urgent issue that needs to be resolved by all electronic components manufacturers. During the Seventh International Passive Components and Market Development Forum (PCF2012), Wen Xueli, Secretary General of the China Electronic Components Industry Association said that although the development of electronic components industry has slowed down, it does not mean that the whole industry is declining. There are many outstanding enterprises still maintaining a good momentum of development. In the near future, it is expected that some large companies may have an absolute advantage in several industry segments in China's electronic components industry. The Chinese government is vigorously supporting and promoting emerging industries such as cloud computing, the Internet, optical communications, new energy and more, and has invested a large amount of support funds that will bring new opportunities to the weak electronic information industry.
The popularity of smart TV will also provide a strong impetus to the electronic components market. As per statistics, the penetration rate of smart TVs in 2013 will grow to 33 percent. The popularity of smart TVs means that the industrial development pattern of its related industrial supply chain such as CPUs, chips, devices, content, networks and others are experiencing a deep integration and change! In the 2012 Conference of Smart TV and Digital Home Industry, guests from DisplaySearch, CEC CoreCast, Gaya, Konka, ARM, TCL, Mstar and other well-known enterprises delivered insightful speeches about the smart TV markets and technologies.
About China Hi-Tech Fair ELEXCON
Planned and organized by the Creativity Convention & Exhibition, the China Hi-Tech Fair ELEXCON (abbreviated as: ELEXCON) is an important part of China's No.1 science and technology exhibition - High-Tech Fair. With its professional and international features, ELEXCON has become a professional tradeshow about electronics in the Hi-Tech Fair. It is also China's most popular exhibition for electronic components, materials, and production and assembly. The 14th ELEXCON focused on several areas, including, electronic components, electronic materials, electronic assembly and manufacturing equipment, testing and measuring, detection and certification. Meanwhile, during the fair, a series of activities on hot topics such as passive components, digital home, power quality management, industrial robots, electric vehicles and more were also launched.
