Global Optical Films Market Predicted to Flourish Due to Strategic Collaborations Like That Between Buhler Leybold Optics and imec

Optical films are thin layers of materials that are designed to intensify reflection, polarization, and transmission of properties of an optical substance or element. Although thickness and atomic layers vary from application to application, usually the thickness of optical film coatings is at least 500 nm for their better working. The reason why optical films are applied to optical components is that it’s very rare for a reflective substance to portray an ideal optical characteristic on its own. These thin films enhance such characteristics and are greatly used for almost every optical component around us. Moreover, just like any other coating, optical film coatings are applied on the outside surface of the optical element to not only enhance its properties but to also protect the component from corrosion and degradation.

Forecast Analysis of the Optical Films Market:

The growing demand for well-structured and brighter display panels by electrical devices’ manufacturers is one of the main factors anticipated to drive the growth of the global optical films market during the 2022-2030 forecast period. Moreover, continuous implementation of technical innovations and the prevalence of large format displays in hospitals, education, advertisements, etc. is yet another factor to boost the market growth by 2030. In addition, the rising demand for foldable and flexible displays used in smartphones, laptops, and tablets is expected to create abundant market growth opportunities during the analysis timeframe. Furthermore, strategic product launches and acquisitions by key market players is also estimated to amplify the growth rate of the market. However, high set-up cost of optical films is predicted to impede the market growth.

Regionally, the optical films market in the Asia-Pacific region is projected to hold a dominant market value and surpass $16,646.20 million during the analysis years due to rising electronics sales in countries like Japan, China, and India. Additionally, the growing demand for advanced optical films for electrical devices is also estimated to propel the market growth in the Asia-Pacific region by 2030. Besides, the prevailing dominance of smartphones, laptops, and tablets in Japan and India is expected to enhance the market development.

According to the report published by Research Dive, the global optical films market is predicted to gather a revenue of $40,600.60 million and grow at 8.00% CAGR in the 2022–2030 timeframe. Some significant market players include Samsung SDI, Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., Sanritz Co., Ltd., Kolon Industries Inc., LG Chem, Ltd., Nitto Denko Corporation, 3M, Hyosung Chemical, Toray Industries Inc., Zeon Corporation, and many others.

Covid-19 Impact on the Optical Films Market:

The outbreak of the Covid-19 catastrophe has had a moderate impact on the global optical films market. Strict lockdowns and travel bans imposed by governments across the world to curb the spread of the virus led to severe disruptions in the supply chain of optical films. In addition, shortage of subcontractors as well as cancellation of multiple contracts to control expenses during such unprecedented times also reduced the demand for optical films. However, many key market players reduced the operational costs of products to increase the overall profitability. These factors prove that the Covid-19 pandemic has moderately affected the optical films market.

Significant Optical Films Market Developments:

The significant companies operating in the industry are adopting numerous growth strategies & business tactics such as partnerships, collaborations, mergers & acquisitions, and launches to maintain a robust position, thus helping the market to flourish. For instance:

In November 2021, Kolon Industries Inc., a renowned leader in materials and chemicals, announced a strategic partnership with Origin Materials Inc., a leading carbon negative materials company, to build a successful business in novel polymers and drop-in solutions for automotive applications. Moreover, this partnership also aims to industrialize the latter’s sustainable carbon-negative products with the help of Kolon’s polymerization expertise and supply chain strength to take the global optical films market to greater levels.

In April 2022, Buhler Leybold Optics, a major supplier of thin-film vacuum coaters, announced its collaboration with imec, an R&D organization in the fields of nanoelectronics and digital electronics, to boost the production of the former’s HELIOS 800 tool. The tool enables high-volume manufacturing of thin films by using an in situ optical monitoring system. Moreover, the collaboration aims to upgrade the system for processing complex optical filter architectures, thus further propelling the market growth.

In April 2022, Meta Materials Inc., a leading developer of high-performance functional nanocomposites, announced its acquisition of Plasma App Ltd., (PAL), the developer of PLASMAfusion, a manufacturing platform technology. META aims to apply the same technology to the metallization step of its of its NANOWEB and KolourOptik security films to enable high-speed coating of solid materials on any substrate type and boost the production of advanced optical films.