Taiwan: Slimmer, more integrated passive components

The passive components market in Taiwan has shown continued growth. According to the Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK), a local research institute, the island has surpassed Japan in the worldwide market share of chip resistors. In 2005, Taiwan had 46 percent of the market share, followed by Japan with 44 percent, Europe with 7 percent, and Korea with 3 percent.



Some Taiwan passive component providers, such as Yageo Corp., are buying out other passive component companies. Since Yageo acquired the passive components unit of Philips Semiconductor, the company has become the leading chip resistor manufacturer in Taiwan.







TECHNOLOGICAL STRENGTH

According to Alan Lee, vice president of global sales and marketing at Yageo, “Our company recently announced the 01005 chip resistor, which offers up to 84 percent board space reduction over previous versions. This new product release reflects our technological strength in developing cutting-edge products. We will extend our product lines of miniaturized components in the near future.”The mobile phone is one of the most important applications for passive components. With mobile phone shipment growing, coupled with the increasing popularity of 3G networks, it is anticipated that the demand for passive components will increase.



The dimensions of portable applications such as mobile phones and PDAs are becoming very compact. Passive components are therefore also facing the pressure to integrate with ever shrinking circuits. Over the last couple of years, integrating several passive components has been a key issue for manufacturers.



Lee adds, “Paumanok reported that the total shipment of portable consumer electronics such as 3G mobile phones, Bluetooth modules, and MP3 players will double in 2006. I think this demand will push the growth of 0201 resistors market to 30 billion pieces worldwide in 2006, double that of 2005. Meanwhile, the 0201 thick film resistor array segment will obviously benefit from the mounting demand for portable consumer electronics, especially for higher parts density.”



MINIATURIZED PROCESSES

Leading passive components providers in Taiwan are also developing miniaturized processes such as low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC), thin-film technology, and embedded passives. At the moment, manufacturers in Japan, the United States and Europe, such as Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd, CTS Corp., and Bosch, dominate the LTCC process.



Taiwan is a new player in the LTCC market. Resistor and inductor manufacturers such as Advanced Ceramic X Corp. (ACX), Chilisin Electronics Corp., HolyStone Enterprise Co., Yageo Corp., Walsin Technology Corp., and Cyntec Co. Ltd have just started developing in LTCC technology. Yageo is the only company that is already using all three miniaturized processes.