Market share of lithium-ion battery

LIB market will grow about four trillion yen in 2021!

A lithium-ion battery (abbreviated as LIB) is used for many electric devices like laptop, tablet comuter and smartphone. LIB has three types, cylindrical battery, square battery and laminate battery. Each electric device has its own best battery type. Japanese LIB manufacturers occupied this martket for a long time from it was implemented by Sony in 1991. However, Chinese or South Korean manufacturers have caught up with Japanese manufacturers. Sony sold off its LIB sector to Murata Manufacturing Co.

The world's market size of LIB is about 2.5 trillion yen(about 25 billion dollars) in 2017 according to the report of Fuji Keizai group which is Japanese market research company. The world's LIB shipment volume is 5.7 billion units accroding to the report of Techno system research. It is said that this market's size will grow about four trillion yen in 2021 because the shipment volume of on-vehicle LIB will grow though the shipment volume of consumer-use LIB will remain flat.

The shipment volume of consumer-use LIB was growing because of laptop and smartphone. However, the laptop market was shrinking from 2012. The market of tablet and smartphone grew instead of laptop. It is said that the market of them will remain flat or increase slightly from now. Whether consumer-use LIB market will grow or not depends on the other electric device market, such as wearable computer like apple watch, charging type electric tool, pedal electric cycle(pedelec) or drone.

The shipment volume of on-vehicle LIB is grwoing because of PHV(Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle) and EV(Electric Vehicle). It for electric bus and truck in China increased especially from 2014 to 2016. That is expected to continue to increase. In addition, not only China but also Japan and Europe government grant a asubsiday and reduce taxes for EV. The shipment volume of on-vehicle LIB will be growing all over the world.

A LIB is used for other things except electric deves and vehicle. It is used for industrial machine, house, mobile phone base station and more. Especially a storage battery with it for house and building is attracting attention in Japan from aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Some local goverments of Japan established a subsidy for a storage battery with it for house.

About the market share of LIB, Panasonic has the top share of world's LIB market in 2017. It surpassed Samsung Electronics of South Korea again in LIB volume to rank first for the first time in one year. LIBs for Tesla contibute to the total LIB volume of Panasonic. LG Chem has the third share, ATL which is a subsidiary of TDK has the fourth share of this market. Sony has the fifth share in 2016, but it sold off its LIB sector to Murata Manufacturing Co. Murata focuses on acquiring more share of this market.

By the way, not only LIB manufacturers but also academic organizations research and develop a LIB though about 30 years has passed since LIB was implemented. The reason is dificulty and complexly of developing a new battery including LIB. LIB consits four materials, cathode material, anode material, electrolyte solution and separator. It is difficult not only to improve the performance of materials but also to select best combination. To assemble four high performance materials often has low performance as a battery because of several phenomenons inside LIB, chemical reaction, electric conduction and ionic migration.

Panasonic, TDK, Sony and Murata Manufacturing are listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Foreign investors can invest in them on NYSE by ADR(American Depositary Receipt). In addition, they can do them through many ETFs, MAXIS Nikkei 225 ETF(NKY), iShares MSCI Japan ETF(EWJ), Wisdomtree Japan Hedged ETF(DXJ) and more.