Market Challenges And Opportunities

Drivers

Increasing use of silver conductive inks for 3D printed electronics is expected to drive demand for conductive inks over the forecast period. Silver ink is relatively easy to screen print, aerosol dispense, inkjet dispense, and roll-to-roll print with numerous deposition and coating technologies. Nano-silver conductive inks are easiest to cure at a low temperature, which makes them ideal for many flexible substrate applications as well. Moreover, silver offers excellent corrosion resistance, easy bendability, and stretchability properties, which makes it ideal for 3D printed electronics segments. Printed electronics is a faster means of mass production, and also enable larger surface area substrates that include silver such as such as large screen TV’s and displays. Moreover, according to The Silver Institute, the printed and flexible electronics market is generating around US$ 57.0 billion in terms of revenue, annually. The market is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 11.1% through 2025, and conductive ink materials spend in this segment exceeds 5% of the total revenue.

Market Restraints

Silver is one of the most widely used metals in electronics industry because of its high conductivity, oxidation stability, and other unique properties. However, the price volatility in silver market can affect the conductive ink composition. Conductive ink manufacturers can shift to other metals, owing to high prices of silver. The most widely used conductive ink is based on micron-scale silver flakes. Silver makes up at least 80% of the cost of flake-based inks. This indicates that ink prices are sensitive to price variations of the silver. The prices are also sensitive to supply and industrial demand. In February 2021, silver prices increased in U.S. to reach US$ 950/kg, which was highest in past five months. The increased prices of silver has generated a need to either reduce the use of expensive silver material or replace them.