Flexible Printed Circuit Boards Market Trends

Market Driver - Rising Demand in Consumer Electronics and Wearable Technology

The flexible printed circuit boards market has been witnessing significant growth in demand from the consumer electronics and wearable devices industry. Devices are shrinking in size while integrating more components. Thereby, flexible printed circuit boards have emerged as an ideal solution to stack components in a compact form factor while maintaining reliability.

Flexible printed circuit boards allow manufacturers to design compact devices with curved edges and three dimensional geometries. Newer consumer applications including rollable displays are leading the innovation paths for flexible electronics in the coming years.

The rising popularity of wearable devices has augmented demand for flexible printed circuit boards significantly. According to predictions, robust shipment of smart wearable products will continue over the next decade. Flexible circuits are playing a critical role in driving innovations and defining next generation wearable form factors. Thus, the flexible printed circuit boards market is expected to witness strong gains driven by relentless technological advancements across consumer and wearable electronics space.

Market Driver - Miniaturization Trends Across Various Industries

The electronics industry has undoubtedly become more compact in size due to ongoing miniaturization of components driven by Moore's law. This has propelled the use of flexible printed circuits across a wide range of industries beyond consumer electronics.

New-age technologies including robotic process automation (RPA), Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) have led to the proliferation of miniaturized electronic devices that require flexible interconnections. Areas such as smart homes, smart cities, autonomous vehicles, industrial IoT and medical devices present massive growth opportunities for flexible printed circuit boards manufacturers given their small form factor needs.

Flexible printed circuit boards are gaining rising usage in wearable medical devices and implants. The automotive industry too has emerged as a major end-use sector for flexible circuits due to the integration of advanced driver-assistance systems in modern vehicles. Even industrial robots and heavy machinery utilize flex circuits to cleverly design compact control and automation systems. Overall, miniaturization remains the prime enabling factor driving the flexible printed circuit boards market.

Market Challenge - Limited Heat Dissipation Capabilities of FPCBs

One of the major challenges faced by the flexible printed circuit boards market is the limited heat dissipation capabilities of these boards. Electronics and electronic components continue to shrink in size while also packing more processing power and functionalities. Consequently, heat generated by these components has also increased significantly over the years.

However, FPCBs are typically made of thin, flexible materials like polyimide which have poor thermal conductivity. This makes it difficult for FPCBs to effectively dissipate the large amount of heat generated by today's sophisticated chips and integrated circuits. If excess heat is not properly addressed, it can cause operational failures, performance degradation and even permanent damage over prolonged usage.

Manufacturers have been trying to address this by developing thermally enhanced flexible printed circuit boards integrated with materials like copper and graphene. This can help deal with this challenge in the flexible printed circuit boards market.

Market Opportunity - Expansion in Wearable Healthcare Devices

One major opportunity area for the growth of the flexible printed circuit boards market is the rapid expansion of the wearable healthcare devices sector. With rising health awareness and the need for continuous monitoring of vital signs, the global wearable medical devices market has seen explosive growth over the past decade.

A variety of smartwatches, fitness bands, patches, and other wearables are being developed to monitor vital signs, detect health issues and support disease management. As these devices need to be lightweight, flexible, comfortable to wear and conform to body movements, flexible printed circuit boards have emerged as a preferred solution due to their thin, flexible form factors. The use of FPCBs allows wearables to be designed more ergonomically while still packing various biometric sensors, data processors, batteries and connectivity options. New applications in disease screening, virtual reality rehabilitation, infants monitoring, and elder care are also opening up opportunities in the flexible printed circuit boards market.