Market Overview

The market for tantalum is expected to register a CAGR of over 5.5% during the forecast period. Major factors driving the market studied are the growth of the electronic industry and extensive usage of tantalum alloys in aviation and gas turbines. However, the detrimental effect of tantalum powder is expected to hinder the growth of the market studied.

  • The capacitor’s application segment dominated the market owing to the fact that more than 50% of the total tantalum consumed is used as powder and wire to make capacitors in the electronics industry.
  • Replacement of solid capacitors with polymer tantalum capacitors is likely to act as an opportunity in the future.
  • Asia-Pacific dominated the market across the globe with the largest consumption from the countries, such as China and South Korea.



Key Market Trends

Semiconductor to Dominate the Market

  • Tantalum is a crucial component in the production of next-generation semiconductors, which allows electronics manufacturers to produce chips of increasingly greater information densities. Tantalum powders and tantalum-coated anode wires are employed in various applications of semiconductors.
  • Tantalum has highly stable thermal, electrical, and mechanical properties that extend over a broad range of temperatures for semiconductor processing. In addition, the compatibility of tantalum with silicon and silicon dioxide for chip processing is a big benefit.
  • Tantalum functions primarily as a diffusion barrier between a copper seed layer and silicon and engenders unique sticking properties for both silicon and copper, without reacting chemically with the copper substrate.
  • The diffusion barrier is often a multi-layered structure of pure tantalum and tantalum nitride that is reactively sputtered. The versatility of tantalum allows high volume adoption in diffusion barrier applications for copper interconnects.
  • The rapid advancement in semiconductor technology and Moore’s Law (an observation that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit has doubled approximately every two years) have positioned tantalum as the most preferable material with high stability and very few processing issues.
  • Tantalum is deposited on semiconductors’ surfaces through physical vapor deposition (PVD) in a process known as sputtering. Tantalum sputtering targets are used in a variety of products, which include, magnetic storage media, inkjet printer heads, and flat panel displays.
  • Tantalum is sputtered, either as a pure metal or as a nitride in reactive sputtering. Apart from the option of reactively sputtering an oxide, nitride, or oxy-nitride, there are few applications for the metal alloys of tantalum.
  • There are alternative targets that may be used for the same applications, such as tungsten, molybdenum, and titanium. However, according to primary sources in the semiconductor industry, tantalum is known for reliability, which is a critical factor in such an advanced process.
  • While tantalum may be readily alloyed with tungsten, niobium, or ruthenium, one of the greatest benefits of using pure tantalum is the recycling opportunity. More than 50% of tantalum used in sputter targets returns to the semiconductor material process stream.
  • Tantalum-based semiconductors, including tantalum oxide, tantalate, and tantalum (oxy)nitride, are among the most important photocatalysts in solar energy and hence, are among the most promising solutions for the energy crises.
  • This recent application stages a new opportunity for the global tantalum market in the forecast period.



Asia-Pacific to Dominate the Market

  • Asia-Pacific had the highest share in the market, accounting for a share of approximately 40% of the global market. The Asia-Pacific market is primarily driven by the increase in the demand from end-user industries, including electronics, aerospace, and medical equipment.
  • China is the largest consumer of tantalum in Asia-Pacific. The Chinese tantalum market is highly competitive. Capacitors and high-end military applications are the key consumption areas for tantalum in the country.
  • The country has vigorously advocated localization of high-end military products and reduced dependence on imported products for strategic security and cost control considerations, providing a favorable environment policy and superiority for the domestic military tantalum capacitor industry.
  • In the domestic market, there is no significant market access difference between international manufacturers and domestic manufacturers. The international tantalum capacitor manufacturers, represented by American Vishay, KEMET, and AVX, have mastered and accumulated the core technologies and key materials of tantalum capacitors. The imported industrial grade tantalum capacitor products used in some projects are likely to be replaced by domestic tantalum capacitor products. The market share of domestic tantalum capacitors is expected to continue rising in the next three to five years.
  • The large market size coupled with the huge growth of Asia-Pacific is quite instrumental in the expansion of the tantalum market.



Competitive Landscape

The tantalum market is partly fragmented in nature, in terms of tantalum mining companies. The major companies include Global Advanced Metals Pty Ltd, AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group, Pilbara Minerals, Ningxia Orient Tantalum Industry Co. Ltd, and Alliance Mineral Assets Limited.

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