The 5G network has actually been used in certain areas of the United States, China, Europe and South Korea since 2019 and is currently expanding. This is a great opportunity for businesses in the electronics industry. If one is able to be a 5G smartphone component supplier, he will certainly has any other stable trade opportunities. 

One of the first products to be released in the 5G era is smartphones and base station systems, which require a lot of reliable parts and other value-added parts. Mr. Daiki Takayama, head of research department at Goldman Sachs predicted that the Japanese electronics industry will be able to enter this market within 3-5 years. The parts that will be in greater demand is the camera actuator, especially for smartphones with multiple cameras, which is the current trend and not likely to be needed less any time soon. This is because consumers expect cameras of high quality along with other functions such as vibration prevention.

Murata Manufacturing reported that their company’s "MetroCirc" bendable multilayer resin substrate is in people’s much greater interest, predicting more customers to supply in the future. Despite their major competitor like Modified-Polyamide (MPI), they are confident that their Millimeter-Wave Band still has the advantage.

The next product that will be in greater demand for 5G smartphones is MLCC (multilayer ceramic capacitors), especially the small and high capacity type. The 4G base station systems that will transition into 5G ones will make the demand for MLCC of Sub-6GHz type increase by 10% and for millimeter wave by 20%.

“MMC Series” Band-Pass Filter / Photo: TDK

Mitsuru Nagata, a manager at TDK, commented that “A huge business opportunity will occur in the frequency wave components such as the band-pass filter.” The company has produced the band-pass filter for millimeter wave transmission for the base station G since last October. We are also the first company in the world to use low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) materials. At TDK, we believe that millimeter wave will be the main frequency of the 5G era.

In addition, Apple has scheduled to launch new models of iPhone this year. It is expected that the high-end model will be the one that uses millimeter wave technology.