Market Research Reports & Industry News. Updated: May 18, 2013

Lithium-Air Batteries: Technology Trends and Commercialization Prospects

Electric vehicles are facing numerous technological challenges to replace gasoline internal combustion engine-powered cars.  One of the biggest problems is low energy density of currently available li-ion batteries, which allows a short driving range of 150 km/charge. To boost full-scale development of the EV market, replacing current internal combustion engine cars, it is necessary to develop EVs with a similar single charge range of more than 500km with internal combustion engine cars. According to NEDO (Japan), the energy density limit of li-ion secondary batteries is expected to be up to 250 Wh/kg.  To develop EVs with the 500km range, which is considered as a prerequisite for growth of the EV market, it is required to develop a new type of battery that has energy density of 700 Wh/kg or more.  Among several candidate technologies, metal-air batteries such as lithium-air and zinc-air batteries are considered as the most promising.

Next-Generation Flexible Thin-film Solar Cell Technology and Market Forecast

As cost reduction and product diversification are becoming important issues in the PV industry, flexible solar cells are drawing a lot of attention.  Since most of conventional solar cells are formed on hard substrates such as wafers or glass, they are deformed or broken when forces are applied. However, flexible solar cells, drawing attention as one of next-generation solar cells, are bendable or twistable.  Thus, thin-film solar cells are mainly used for flexibility.  They are transformable according to circumstances, light-weight, and highly portable.

LIBs for IT Applications: Market Analysis and Forecast

2012 global lithium secondary battery shipments totaled 4911 million cells.  Quarterly shipments were 1140 million cells in the first quarter, 1,250 million cells in the second quarter, 1,280 million cells in the third quarter, and 1,250 million cells in the fourth quarter.  Although the market was expected to grow between 3Q and 4Q, which belong to the peak season in the IT industry, the overall LIB shipments were actually flat, as demand for the cylindrical type decreased from 495 million cells in 3Q to 417 million cells in 4Q.  This resulted from fierce competition between companies such as Panasonic, Samsung SDI, and LG Chem for increasing capacity of cylindrical batteries, and excessive investment in cylindrical and prismatic batteries, which are relatively standardized and allow employing automation to the fullest, as an attempt to reduce labor costs. While the prismatic type had no major difficulties, creating new demand continuously through smart phone applications such as Samsung Galaxy Series, demand for the cylindrical type continued to decrease.  Thus, related companies are striving to create new applications.  On the other hand, Chinese LIB manufacturers such as ATL, Lishen, Coslight, and B&K, which have focused on production of and investment in the polymer type, are enjoying the current market situation.

UHD TV Market Insight

From the first half of 2012, Industry leading Korean companies started to recover and move from deficit to surplus. However, the TFT LCD market which have previously shown a rapid growth is now in the maturity stage and due to the changes in the spending pattern of consumers and aggressive purchasing policy of set companies, the display industry and in particular, the LCD manufacturers are experiencing profitability deterioration which can no longer be neglected. As a solution, companies are finding a breakthrough by realizing a large-size high-resolution LCD panel screen and commercializing OLED television technology which might lead to the fourth "Big Bang"in the market.

Global Markets for Roll to Roll Technologies for Flexible Devices

Used in diverse fields such as electronics, energy and healthcare, flexible devices represent a category of devices that in recent years have experienced strong market growth due to their advanced characteristics. Flexible devices that are lightweight and can bend and conform to curved surfaces due to their thin profile provide versatility and allow for the creation of new and low-cost applications. As flexible devices become more popular, the need increases to use high-volume processes for their fabrication. Consequently, the industry is steadily transitioning to the integration of roll-to-roll (R2R) technologies for fabricating these devices. The primary goal of this report is to offer new insights on flexible devices that are produced using roll-to-roll technologies, outlining technological and industry trends and providing a market analysis for these products.

North America – Smart Weapons Markets and Technologies Outlook

The U.S. government is the major customer of the smart weapons industry, and therefore, an understanding of the impact of U.S. budget woes on upcoming spending budgets is crucial to understanding future trends in the U.S. and global smart weapons markets. Add to this complex equation the growth of Chinese and Indian military power, the changes in conflict profiles, and the future evolution of the smart weapons industry becomes a puzzle requiring robust analysis, and “out of the box” thinking to solve and exploit successfully.

Next Generation Network OSS/BSS Market and Forecast 2013-2018

NGN promises a high quality end-user experience. Telecommunications service providers expect the NGN framework to provide them with tools that would ensure customer loyalty. However, the path towards achieving the ideal NGN is fraught with formidable challenges. The most critical challenge confronting operators is optimizing their OSS and BSS platforms, systems, and processes. With research beginning in 2007, the report Next Generation Network OSS/BSS Market and Forecast 2013-2018 provides a comprehensive analysis of drivers and issues related to technical and business aspects of OSS/BSS deployments and developments while forecasting their growth over the next five years.

Medical Robotic Systems Market - Global Industry Analysis

This report studies the market for medical robotic systems by different types of systems including surgical robots, non-invasive radiosurgery, emergency response, prosthetics, assistive & rehabilitation and non-medical robotic systems. The global market has been segmented based on these systems, and market size and forecasts for the period 2010 to 2018 have been provided for each segment, in terms of USD million. The CAGR (%) of each market segment for the forecast period 2012 to 2018 has also been provided, considering 2011 as the base year.

Healthcare Microchip Array Market - Global Industry Analysis

A healthcare microchip array refers to the use of advanced semiconductor technology to produce microchips with varied healthcare applications. Such an amalgamation of technology with healthcare has revolutionary consequences, as it holds the capability to transform the cost effective semiconductor technology attained through economies of scale to the healthcare frontier. The high growth of the market is accounted for by the rising prevalence of lifestyle induced diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular complications. Microchips can be used to constantly monitor the body’s condition wirelessly and cost effectively. Such a capability of the technology to personalize healthcare and detect chronic diseases at an early stage is one of the major driving factors for the market. Some of the other drivers for the market are growing personal/home healthcare industries and technological advancements in the field of semiconductor technologies and the medical devices market.

Worldwide Solid State Storage 2013–2017 Forecast and Analysis

This study provides insight into the solid state drive (SSD) industry for the 2013–2017 forecast period. Significant trends and industry dynamics are analyzed in an attempt to give the reader a solid understanding of the current situation and future outlook for the worldwide SSD market. Market opportunities are discussed in terms of unit shipments, exit factory revenue, and terabytes shipped. The evolution of the IT market, which is being driving by social business, mobile devices, big data analytics, and the cloud, is changing the storage landscape and in turn creating new and expanding opportunities for solid state storage. As a result, SSD adoption continues to expand in both the client and the enterprise market as the industry looks to take advantage of many of the inherent benefits of the technology to provide faster, more efficient access to stored data.