An indispensable material for PC, the domestic market is expected to exceed 7.2 billion in 2022

PI film has superior performance and a wide range of downstream applications. The product forms of polyimide include films, foams, fibers, photosensitive polyimide and polyimide-based composite materials, among which PI film accounts for more than 70%, which is the most important product form in the polyimide industry . The production of PI film needs to go through production processes such as resin polymerization, casting, imidization and post-treatment. The product has excellent characteristics such as high heat resistance, strong mechanical properties, low dielectric constant and low expansion coefficient. Known as the "gold film", downstream is widely used in high-tech industries such as consumer electronics, high-speed rail, wind power, aerospace, and flexible display.

Foreign giants occupy the mainstream of the market, and domestic production capacity is gradually following up. Domestic PI film started late, and there are gaps with foreign giants in terms of production capacity, process and technology. As the advanced production technology is mostly controlled by the United States, Japan, South Korea and other countries, the country mainly produces low-end electrical PI film, while high-end products still rely on imports. In recent years, with the continuous accumulation of domestic technology and capital, many new material companies have successively put into production of PI film, and domestic production capacity has gradually expanded.

From the perspective of the global market, American, Japanese, and Korean companies, including DuPont of the United States, Koubuchi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Toray Co., Ltd. of Japan, Ube Industries Co., Ltd. of Japan, and SKC Kolon PI of South Korea, occupy the entire industry. Nearly 80% of production capacity. In recent years, domestic professional manufacturers have accelerated their development, and domestically produced PI films have gradually realized import substitution. Among them, Shenzhen Ruihuatai Film Technology Co., Ltd.'s product sales accounted for about 6% of the global market, indicating that domestic PI film manufacturers have officially entered global competition. Ranks.

The domestic market is expected to reach 7.24 billion yuan, and there is ample room for import substitution. The compound growth rate of the global PI film market from 2017 to 2020 is nearly 8%. At the end of 2019, the global PI film market reached 1.8 billion US dollars, an increase of 11.1% over the previous year. Reached 2.05 billion US dollars. At present, in the downstream application fields of PI film in the world, flexible circuit board FPC accounts for the largest proportion, about 48%, followed by special products including aerospace materials and flexible display materials accounting for about 29%, and the remaining application fields account for 23%.

The growth of the output value of flexible circuit board FPC has promoted the continuous expansion of the electronic-grade PI film market: flexible copper clad laminate FCCL is an important base material for manufacturing flexible circuit board FPC. The latter has become an important component of electronic product equipment due to its lightness and flexibility. The global FCCL market has grown from 2.64 billion U.S. dollars in 2014 to 4.48 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. As the main raw material of FCCL, the demand for electronic-grade PI film has grown simultaneously with FCCL. In 2019, the global demand for PI film in the FCCL industry reached 1,4877.5 tons. The demand is 4869.0 tons, and the growth rate is 8%. From the perspective of FPC output value, the domestic FPC output value increased from 29.07 billion yuan to 52.60 billion yuan from 2014 to 2020, with a compound growth rate of 10.4%. In recent years, the growth rate of FPC demand has slowed down, but the development of new downstream electronic products will inject new growth momentum into the FPC industry. It is expected that FPC output value will grow to 54.44 billion yuan in 2021, thereby promoting the continued expansion of the electronic-grade PI film market.

The rapid development of commercial aerospace and flexible screens has promoted the continuous growth of the special-grade PI film market: In the aerospace field, PI film has been used as a rocket protective material due to its excellent weather resistance and radiation resistance. Since 2015, it has benefited from With policy support and the development of private enterprises, the number of domestic carrier rocket launches has gradually increased, and launch revenue has grown rapidly. In 2019, the market size of the commercial aerospace industry chain exceeded 800 billion yuan, with a compound growth rate of 22.1%. Since the cost of raw materials for a single-engine launch vehicle can account for 35% of the total cost, the localization of raw materials is bound to greatly reduce manufacturing costs, thereby promoting the growth of special-grade PI films. In the field of flexible screens, flexible CPI film is the screen cover material used by most folding mobile phone manufacturers. With the continuous commercialization of flexible displays, foldable mobile phones have gradually become a new form of mobile phones. According to relevant forecasts, global foldable mobile phone shipments will reach 45.3 million units in 2024, and domestic shipments will reach 13.2 million units, while flexible covers are used as foldables. The core components of mobile phones will promote the continuous growth of special-grade PI films.

Consumer electronics are gaining momentum, and thermally conductive PI film has more room for demand: Thermally conductive graphite film is a downstream product of thermally conductive PI film, mainly used in LED substrates, electronic component heat dissipation and other fields, and is currently the mainstream heat dissipation material used in the consumer electronics industry . In recent years, the domestic thermal interface material market has gradually expanded, from 660 million yuan in 2014 to 1.27 billion yuan in 2020, with a compound growth rate of 9.9%. With the advent of the 5G era, domestic 5G mobile phone shipments have rapidly increased from 12.982 million units in 2019Q4 to 55.096 million units in 2020Q4. The drive of 5G technology will bring greater demand for thermally conductive PI films.

The market for wind power and high-speed rail industries is rising steadily, and the scale of the electrical PI film industry continues to expand: Electrical PI film is mainly used for high-level insulation systems such as variable frequency motors and generators, and is ultimately used in wind power, high-speed rail transit and other fields. In the wind power industry, China is the world's largest wind power development market. As of the end of 2020, the cumulative installed capacity of domestic wind power reached 282GW, an increase of 34.3% year-on-year, and the cumulative installed capacity accounted for 36% of the world. In the context of advocating new energy, with the localization of the wind power industry chain, electrical PI film will have a broader market prospect. In the high-speed rail transit industry, China's high-speed rail operating mileage ranks first in the world, accounting for more than 60%. By the end of 2019, the domestic high-speed rail operating mileage reached 35,000 kilometers, and the number of EMU locomotives reached 29,000. It is expected that in 2020, the domestic The mileage of high-speed rail will reach 37,000 kilometers, and the market scale of electrical PI film will continue to expand.

According to global and domestic downstream industry growth estimates, it is estimated that by 2022, the total global PI film market will reach 2.45 billion U.S. dollars, and the total domestic PI film market will reach 7.24 billion yuan, of which electronic-grade PI film is 2.63 billion yuan and special-grade PI The film is 2.69 billion yuan, the thermally conductive PI film is 950 million yuan, and the electrical PI film is 970 million yuan.