PEN film has great demand potential and the local industry needs to develop urgently

PEN film is polyethylene naphthalate film. It is a film material made from polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) as raw material, made into thick sheets by extrusion method, and then stretched. Its application is the most studied field of PEN, and it is also the earliest product of PEN put into use. In addition to its excellent high strength, high modulus and thermal resistance properties, PEN film also has excellent gas barrier properties, water resistance, radioactivity resistance and other characteristics. It can be used as the base tape of tapes, flexible circuit boards, capacitor films, F-class insulating films, etc. fields, in addition, with the promotion of 5G and new energy development, there is an urgent demand for functional films. The applications of PEN films in emerging fields such as electronics and electrical, new energy, optoelectronic display, aerospace, etc. are also constantly expanding.

Compared with PET, PEN film has higher barrier properties, waterproofness, air tightness, UV resistance, better heat resistance, chemical resistance, radiation resistance, etc., and can be widely used in flexible circuit boards, insulation In fields such as materials, its products have high added value and great development prospects. However, due to low market awareness and limited demand for PEN film, its market size is relatively small.

PEN film is a technology- and capital-intensive industry. In addition, Toyobo monopolizes the production technology and market of the upstream raw material PEN resin. As a result, Toyobo is currently the only company in the world that can mass-produce and supply PEN films on a large scale. In the domestic market, although China has conducted research on PEN resin and film-related technologies earlier, it has never been able to achieve large-scale production. Experimental small-scale production is difficult to meet market demand. Therefore, domestic PEN film products are all imported from Japan. Textile products. In addition, the main raw material of PEN film is PEN. The PEN industry has high technical barriers and the market is currently dominated by Japanese companies. Moreover, China’s PEN industry started late. Due to factors such as insufficient technology accumulation and high production costs, China has no production equipment for PEN, and the domestic supply of PEN is blank. In terms of PEN film sales, Toyobo has set up dealers in many places in China in order to improve sales efficiency and expand sales coverage. Toyobo controls and manages the product source. Therefore, competition in China’s PEN film industry is relatively relaxed. According to the released “2023-2027 PEN Film Industry In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report“, in 2021, China’s PEN film The production capacity is less than 15 tons.

Analysts believe that PEN film has a wide range of applications in fields such as flexible circuit boards and insulating materials, and its terminals involve semiconductor materials, In fields such as consumer electronics and electrical insulation materials, their downstream industries are all industries supported by the state. In recent years, with the support of relevant industrial policies, the downstream industry of PEN film has developed rapidly, driving the growth of PEN film market demand. At the same time, with the development of 5G, new energy and other industries, there is a new urgent need for functional films. Enterprises are increasing their development and application efforts. PEN films are increasingly used in emerging fields such as electronics and electrical, new energy, optoelectronic displays, aerospace and other emerging fields. expansion, thereby driving the growth of its market demand.