Market Status of Miniature Connectors

Development history of miniature connectors

The miniaturization of connectors was developed from the miniaturization of military electronic equipment. As early as during World War II, the United States used unsealed rectangular connectors with a center distance of 2.54mm in military equipment. The miniaturization of connectors has developed rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s. Connectors with a center distance of 2.54mm are common products, and have even reached 0.381 mm in some military occasions. At that time, the development of micro-connectors was at a fairly high level.

In recent years, the development of electronic technology has changed rapidly, products have been continuously updated, and portable products have become increasingly popular, which has greatly promoted the development of micro connectors. The connector technology with a pitch of 1.27mm has basically reached maturity. The general product pitch has also reached the level of 1.0mm ~ 0.8mm. At present, 0.3mm ultra-miniature FPC connector products have appeared. As a whole, the volume and weight of connectors have also dropped significantly.

Market status of miniature connectors

Application market

The application fields of micro-connectors are very wide, from computers, communication equipment to industrial test instruments, from military equipment to new types of consumer electronics, etc., which have different requirements for micro-connector products.

Notebook computers have the most demand for micro-connectors. Modern communication technology changes with each passing day. It is believed that micro-connectors will become more and more widely used under new communication technology.

On the military side, due to changes in the international situation, the military electrical connector market is shrinking, and the demand for miniature connectors may slow down. However, adapting to the harsh use environment and high reliability requirements of military electronic equipment is the main driving force for the development of micro-connector technology. High-end micro-connector products in various periods are often obtained on cutting-edge military equipment such as aviation, modern military electronic equipment and new weapons. First used. It can be predicted that modern military equipment is still one of the important areas for the development and application of micro-connectors.

Product category market

The demand of the application market has promoted the continuous expansion of the market for various micro-connector products. PCB connectors, FPC connectors, circular connectors: rectangular connectors, IC sockets, coaxial connectors, etc. have all achieved miniaturization to varying degrees. Among them, the micro-i products of PCB and IC socket connectors will grow the fastest.

The PCB pcb connector is mostly used for in-machine wiring. With the increasing portability of electronic equipment, the miniaturization requirements of machine manufacturers are increasing. The world ’s connector product market in 1994, PCB connectors ranked first with US $6.713 billion It is predicted that the PCB microplastic connector has great development potential. Due to the extremely fierce competition in the PCB connector market, the price has fallen sharply. The price of the IIII micro PCB connector is relatively stable. Device development.

National or regional market

The development of connector miniaturization in various countries or regions is not balanced. Japan is a world leader in the development of micro-connector technology. It is mainly committed to the research and development of micro-connectors for consumer electronics products. This point cannot be compared with the United States. Products with a pitch below 0.625mm in Japan are not considered as micro-connectors at all, and ultra-miniature FPC connectors with a pitch of 0.3mm have been successfully developed by Japan. The general level of micro-connector technology in the United States has also reached pitches of 0.8, mm and 1.0 mm. In particular, the world's connector multinational companies represented by AMP have strong capabilities in the development of micro-connectors, not only occupying domestic markets Absolute advantage, but also firmly control the high-end miniature connector market in other countries.

The research and development of micro-connectors in Asian countries or regions other than Japan is still at a low level. For example, most of Malaysia and Thailand produce connectors with a pitch of 2.54mm, and Korea uses 2.0mm connectors as the bulk.

The development of micro-connectors has attracted great attention, but due to the high precision of manufacturing and testing of micro-connectors, many processes must be completed with expensive automatic equipment, and the technical content and cost are higher than ordinary products.

Machine manufacturers mainly produce low-end consumer electronics products, and there is not much demand for high-end miniature connectors. Therefore, most manufacturers mainly produce 2.54mm pitch connectors. The limited high-end miniature connector market is dominated by imported products.