The sales situation and competition pattern of the thermal printhead industry are the main players
The manufacturing technology of thermal printhead is mainly divided into thick film technology and thin film technology.
Thick film products are mainly used in applications that do not have high requirements for printing speed and resolution, and occupy a dominant position in receipt log printing, small logo printing, fax machines and other fields, and have a wide range of applications in label printing, barcode printing and card printing.
Film products occupy a dominant position in fine printing applications such as industrial labels, color **, cards, date codes, etc., with high printing quality, fast printing speed, and color printing. For example, industrial label products have high requirements for printing speed and resolution, and thick film products are difficult to meet the needs of high-speed, high-definition industrial label manufacturing**Although the product does not have high requirements for printing speed, it needs to be close to the real photo quality, and the film product can achieve delicate color grayscale printing effectColor card products, such as Hong Kong and Macao passes, social security cards, employee cards, membership cards, etc., require high-color photo quality and high-precision printing effects, and only film products can meet the needs.
Source**: Computer Industry Association, PwC Planning.
With the rise and leadership of Chinese printer companies in various fields of thermal printing, the attraction of international brands by the perfect domestic processing system and high-quality technical workers, as well as the localization trend of core components brought about by the national internal circulation strategy, will promote the demand for thermal printheads in the Chinese market to show a steady growth trend.
1. Introduction to the thermal printing industry
Modern printing technology began in the 50s of the 20th century, and since the late 70s, the application of a large number of new technologies has made printing technology enter a period of rapid development, and mainstream technologies such as inkjet, laser, and thermal printing have emerged. In the 21st century, with the development of electronic computers and information technology, as an important output device for various information, a variety of novel and practical printers were born, and a series of mainstream products such as laser printers, inkjet printers, and thermal printers have been formed in the field of printers to meet the various needs of different users.
The printer industry is a high-tech industry with extremely high patent technical barriers, integrating key technologies such as laser imaging, microelectronics, fine chemicals, precision automatic control and precision machinery, and has a high entry threshold. Due to its technology-intensive industry, the countries in the world that can design and manufacture printers are mainly concentrated in the United States, Japan, and China. At the same time, the printer is extremely important in the field of information security, is an important part of computer peripherals, can directly contact and process all kinds of information materials of the computer system, and is an important equipment for core information data output.
Thermal printing is currently one of the mainstream printing methods in the market, mainly by controlling the heating and cooling of the thermal print head, so that the printing medium is heated and discolored, or the pigment is melted, the dye is sublimated to color the medium, and the printing technology of text and image is completed. Thermal printing technology was first used in the fax machine in the 80s of the 20th century, and its basic principle is that the thermal print head controls the heating of the thermal printing hair according to the data signal and logic signal sent by the printer, so that the thermal coating on the thermal paper is heated and colored. medical and other fields. Thermal printing technology has increasingly become an important means and mainstream technology for the output of information systems.
Compared with other printing methods, thermal printing has the advantages of simple structure, fast printing speed, clean and environmental protection, low noise, easy maintenance, low cost, long life of the print head, and adaptation to large-load applications, so as to be welcomed by the market, and its development is fast and strong growth in the future in today's mainstream printing technology. With the development of science and technology, some of the traditional disadvantages of thermal printing technology have also been compensated, for example, in the past, the storage time of thermal printing paper was relatively short, but the current technology can be stored for more than 30 years, and the progress of thermal transfer technology has made it possible for thermal printing applications in office and home fields.
2. The competitive pattern and representative enterprises of the thermal printhead industry
The commercial production of thermal printheads originated in Japan, and until the beginning of this century, more than 90% of the world's thermal printheads were produced by Japanese manufacturers. At present, the market share of the world's four major thermal printhead manufacturers exceeds 85%, namely Kyocera, Rohm, Valin Electronics and AOI, all of which are concentrated in Japan except Valin Electronics. Among them, ROHM and AOI are mainly thick film products, and Kyocera is mainly film products. In addition to the above 4 major thermal printhead manufacturers in the industry, Japanese companies such as Alps and Toshiba Beidou have been mass-produced for many years, and domestic companies such as Hunan Kaitong Electronics have also begun to produce thermal printheads.
Source**: Computer Industry Association, PwC Planning.
1) Kyocera. Kyocera Corporation uses thin-film technology to produce thermal printheads, which are part of the Electronic Components Division. Kyocera occupies a dominant position in the mid-to-high-end field such as barcode printing, card printing, date code printing, and first-class printing with its leading film technology.
2) Roma. ROHM's main activities include ICs, discrete semiconductors, modules, and others. The module includes a thermal printhead, a power supply module and a wireless communication module. ROHM was a resistor manufacturer in the early days, and its thermal printhead products were mainly thick film products, with strong technical force, advanced technology of standardized, large-scale and fully automated production, and occupied a dominant position in the field of bill printing, and also occupied an advantage in the field of low-end barcode printing.
3) AOI's main products include ICs, modules, thick film thermal printheads and MEMS components, etc. AOI was originally ROHM's OEM plant with strong implementation technology in resistors and semiconductor production. Thick film technology is used to produce thermal print heads, and the main business is concentrated in the field of bill printing.
4) Valin Electronics.
It is a high-tech enterprise specializing in R&D, production, sales and technical services of thermal print heads, the company can provide customers with various types of printing density, different printing speeds and different printing widths and other series, a variety of thermal print heads, with specific specifications of about 1,000 kinds, becoming a manufacturer with thick film and film technology at the same time.
3. Main application fields
In recent years, with the rapid development of downstream industries such as industrial manufacturing, smart phone peripherals, e-commerce logistics, catering and retail, and medical care, a large number of applications of various thermal printers have been born, which has led to the rapid growth of demand for thermal printheads.
4. The main barriers of the industry
1) Talent barriers.
The design, development, process, reliability test and other professional knowledge and technology of thermal printhead involve a variety of disciplines, and its R&D and industrialization require a large number of R&D and production personnel with deep professional background and rich practical experience. R&D personnel must have relevant professional knowledge, after years of corporate training and practice, in order to truly independently design and develop new products, competent for the qualification requirements of technical positions.
2) Technical barriers.
Thermal printhead is a set of functional core materials, microelectronics advanced manufacturing, ASIC design and other technologies in one of the precision electronic devices, high technical complexity, new entrants are difficult to fully grasp the technical reserves and process flow involved in the industry in a short period of time, the need for long-term continuous large-scale investment in core technology research and development and long-term technology, technology, quality control knowledge and experience accumulation, thermal printing is a typical technology-intensive industry, the design standards, production environment, manufacturing technology, It has high requirements in terms of machinery and equipment and technological process.
3) Financial barriers.
The R&D and industrialization of thermal printheads require a large amount of investment in the construction of production workshops and laboratories, the purchase of important components for self-made production equipment, customized production equipment and sophisticated inspection and testing instruments, and require continuous R&D investment and technological innovation. In addition, with the intensification of competition in conventional products and the continuous expansion of new application scenarios and fields, in order to continue to improve the existing market share and technical advantages, the company needs to continue to invest funds and increase investment in product research and development and industrialization.
4) Scale barriers.
The early capital investment in the production of thermal printhead is large, and the investment in fixed assets and depreciation are high, so enterprises in the industry need to reduce the average production cost of products through large-scale product production and obtain cost advantages. Before the new entrants reach a certain production scale and establish a sound sales channel, they have a great disadvantage in terms of product cost compared with the existing enterprises in the industry.
5. Industry development opportunities
1) National policy encouragement and support.
Thermal printhead products are the core components of thermal printers, and business development has been encouraged and supported by national policies. With the promulgation of the Outline of the Strategic Plan for Expanding Domestic Demand (2022 2035), comprehensively promoting consumption and accelerating the upgrading of consumption quality will further drive the rapid recovery and growth of various livelihood industries such as retail, tourism, and education. The "Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Long-Range Objectives for the Second and Third Five-Year Plans" adopted by the National People's Congress clearly proposes to promote small and medium-sized enterprises to enhance their professional advantages, cultivate single champion enterprises in the manufacturing industry, further promote the digital transformation of the service industry, cultivate new growth points such as crowdsourcing design, smart logistics, and new retail, and improve the industrial level of communication equipment, core electronic components, and key softwareThe "Catalogue of Encouraged Foreign Investment Industries (2022 Edition)" issued by the state clearly lists high-resolution printing equipment as an encouraged product;The "Industrial Structure Adjustment Guidance Catalogue (2019 Edition)" issued by the state includes computer peripheral equipment such as printers (including high-speed barcode printers) and logistics information service technology, cargo tracking, identification and positioning technology, intelligent warehousing sorting and distribution technology, logistics information security technology and other related products in the encouraged category**The "Outline of the National Innovation-Driven Development Strategy" clearly proposes to actively develop the technical infrastructure of the modern service industry with the support of a new generation of information and network technology, expand the emerging service industries such as digital consumption, e-commerce, modern logistics, Internet finance, and online education, and promote the integration of technological innovation and business model innovation.
2) The application field continues to expand, and the market prospect is good.
At present, the world's thermal printing industry is developing rapidly, and its application scope has gradually expanded to various fields of industry, commerce and national life. Especially in recent years, with the rapid development of downstream industries such as industrial manufacturing, smart phone peripherals, e-commerce logistics, catering and retail, medical care, etc., a large number of applications of various thermal printers have been born, which has led to the rapid growth of the demand for thermal printheads.
For more industry information, please refer to Pricewater's Strategic Consulting2024-2030 thermal printhead industry in-depth research and investment prospect** reportAt the same time, PwC Consulting also provides services such as industrial research reports, industrial chain consulting, project feasibility reports, specialized and special new little giant certification, national manufacturing single champion enterprise certification, 14th Five-Year Plan, post-project evaluation report, BP business plan, industrial map, industrial planning, blue IPO fundraising and investment feasibility study, IPO working paper consulting and other services.