Northeast: Thermal Interface Materials are an important component of heat dissipation. Paying attention to new opportunities for the application of materials.

Northeast released a research report stating that thermal interface materials are an important part of electronic heat dissipation. With the continuous development of AI and new energy in recent years, the growth rate of thermal interface materials industry is expected to increase. In terms of market landscape, overseas companies dominate the high-end market, while there are also relevant manufacturers domestically. The development of artificial intelligence is driving the upgrade of chip heat dissipation technology, making the role of thermal interface materials increasingly important, with new interface materials such as graphene accelerating development. Key points from Northeast are as follows: - Thermal interface materials are an important part of electronic heat dissipation. - Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are thermal conductive substances located between heating electronic components and heat sinks or radiators, which can eliminate gaps, enhance surface contact, and reduce interface thermal resistance, thus playing an important role in reducing operating temperature and extending lifespan. TIMs are usually divided into TIM1 and TIM2. Thermal interface materials are typically composed of substrates and fillers, with substrates mainly using high-polymer polymers with certain fluidity, such as silicone oil, polyolefin, acrylic resin, paraffin oil, etc., to ensure that TIM can spread to all areas with air gaps. Fillers include various high thermal conductivity materials such as inorganic powders, metal powders, graphite powders, etc., such as zinc oxide, silver, aluminum, iron, carbon nanotubes, etc., mainly serving to increase heat transfer efficiency. Common thermal interface materials include thermal paste, thermal conductive gels, phase change materials, graphite sheets, sheet-like thermal gap filling materials, liquid thermal gap filling materials, etc. - Foreign investment occupies the high-end market, and the industry is expected to maintain high growth. According to recent data, the global semiconductor thermal interface materials market will reach around $20.2 billion in 2024, and is expected to increase to $41.48 billion in 2031. With the continuous development of AI and new energy in recent years, the industry's growth rate is expected to improve. In terms of downstream, in 2023, China's consumer electronics accounted for 46.7% of the thermal interface materials market, new energy vehicles accounted for 38.5%, and communication equipment accounted for 7.9%. In terms of market landscape, overseas companies dominate the high-end market, with core manufacturers including Dupont, Shin-Etsu, Henkel, 3M, Dow, Fujipoly, Parker, etc., and domestic manufacturers including Jones Tech Plc, Shenzhen FRD Science & Technology, Foxconn, Suzhou Tianmai Thermal Technology, Bourne Industries, Shenzhen Aochuan, etc. - The development of artificial intelligence is driving the upgrade of chip heat dissipation technology, making the position of TIMs more important, and new interface materials such as graphene are accelerating development. As the development of artificial intelligence leads to an increase in chip heat generation, the thermal resistance at the interface between chips and heat sinks is becoming more and more likely to bottleneck in high-power platforms. Therefore, TIMs technology solutions continue to iterate, with metal-based TIMs, compressible metal solutions, high-performance liquid metals, and other routes being accelerated into high-performance computing platforms. New interface materials (such as graphene, carbon nanotubes, high thermal conductive polymers, etc.) are also experiencing a period of rapid development. Risk warning: Data center demand growth falls short of expectations; industrialization progress of new thermal interface materials falls short of expectations; macroeconomic development falls short of expectations.