New Developments for Advanced Ceramics

It’s exciting to look back and see history helping to predict future growth in advanced ceramics. Structural ceramics are seeing a strong growth rate. This is due to the increased demand for ceramic armor for personal protection and military vehicles. In 2004 alone, companies such as Ceradyne, Cercom, Armor Holdings/Simula and ArmorWorks delivered armor worth over $200 million to the U.S. military. More than half a billion dollars worth of orders are currently pending. Which is subject to the allocation of funds by the military. These orders are expected to be executed in 2005 and 2006, and still more orders are expected in the future. Business Communications Co. (BCC) forecasts that the structural ceramics market will double in size from $650 million in 2004 to $1.3 billion by 2009. This is largely due to the continued boom in armor demand.

Electronic ceramics constitute a mature market, but some of its segments are also growing strongly. Although growth in the commercial sector has fallen short of earlier projections, military demand has helped boost some areas. Segments such as piezoelectric ceramics, magnets and semiconductor packages, leading the growth in advanced ceramics. Overall, the electronic ceramics market segments maintained about a 6% growth rate from 2003 to 2004. BCC now projects that these markets will grow 7.5% annually from 2004 to 2009.

Electronic ceramics continue to hold the largest share of the market, at about 64%. However, structural ceramics will experience the fastest growth rate, with 15% annually from 2004-2009. The total value of the U.S. advanced ceramic components market for 2004 is estimated to be $9.5 billion. This will increase to $13.9 billion by 2009, with an AAGR of 8%.

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