Thermo-Electric Semiconductor Market Size, Share, Opportunities, And Trends, By Type [Heavy, Nano, Thin-Film], By Offering [Coolers, Generators, Others], By Applications [Consumer Electronics, Telecommunications, Automotive, Mining And Power Generation, And Others] And By Geography - Forecasts From 2021 To 2026

The thermo-electric semiconductor market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9.18% over the forecast period to reach a market size of US$1,238.670 million in 2026 from US$731.303 million in 2020.

A thermoelectric semiconductor is solid semi-conducting equipment that converts temperature to heat transmitted to DC power. Semiconductors are widely used in cooling devices and generators. The generator and cooling refrigerators undertake a see-beck effect to generate voltage and undertake electricity or load for further transferring the energy to the other sources or using it up in the cooling process. The semiconductor is made of a combination of thermoelements which have thermo-couple having P and N-type of Conductor adjoined with a metal strip that connects in series in the circuit boards. This triggers the see beck effect which is the direct conversion of heat to voltage. The material used for thermo-electric semiconductors is mainly bismuth telluride, lead telluride, and silicon germanium. The demand for thermoelectric semiconductors can be associated with an increase in the rate of nano-engineering projects to miniaturize the devices to make them portable and space-efficient. The thermo-electric semiconductor demand is also expected to grow with advancements in the refrigeration and cooling space.

The thermo-electric market is segmented into types such as Nano, Heavy, and others. The thermo-electric semi-conductor is primarily offered in either Generator or Cooling machines. However, the applications of thermo-electric semiconductors are prevailing in almost all industry verticals such as Consumer Electronics, Telecommunications, Automotive, Medical Industry, Mining, Power Generation, Refrigeration, and others. Under the COVID-19 pandemic, in lockdown, the market growth has been severely impacted by the recent outbreak since the disruption in the supply chain led to a delay in the order shipments faced by the conducting manufacturers. Also, the non-availability of raw materials and non-availability of technical further led to a slump in the manufacturing output as well. However, the demand for the thermo-electric semiconductor has remained stable as it is required in the renewable energy industry sector. The demand for thermo-electric semiconductors also remained in momentum as the sale of oximeters, thermometers and other medical devices remained in trend. The use of thermo-electric semiconductors is also being made in advanced healthcare machineries such as X-ray scanners, CT scanners, and other speciality equipment. The increasing demand for thermo-electric equipment given its unique features has increased its adoption around the industry verticals. For instance, LG Innotech has undertaken large-scale production of thermo-electric semi-conductor for its wine-cooling Mini Cellar. The cellar is an innovative product for the wine-consuming population as it offers ambient cooling, with no noise and without altering the wine taste and other characteristics. The semiconductors are developed out of nano-polycrystalline materials on which the firm has taken a patent and are flexible to be used on ships, waste heat power generation units, and other autonomous vehicles.

Innovation in the Automobile Sector

The automobile firms are looking forward to manufacturing vehicles driven by solar energy. Such development is expected to increase the demand for thermo-electric semi-conductor materials as they readily convert heat into voltage format. Several automobile companies are undertaking the usage of thermo-electric semi-conductor in vehicles. For instance, In the United States, companies such as Volvo, Ford, and BMW are under development of thermoelectric waste heat recovery that saves that cost by propelling vehicles based on the energy produced through semi-conducting units. As per the data by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), There are projects undertaken by BSST, a thermoelectric device maker, and BMW autonomously with new thermo-electric semi-conducting materials Bismuth telluride, hafnium, and zirconium which aims to improve the efficiency of the automobile by 40%. The advancement is aimed at recovering energy emitted from a car’s exhaust system into electricity to save on fuel. Similarly, GM is also undertaking the development of a thermo-electric semi-conducted energy recovery system based on a material called skutterudites, the material is relatively cheaper than that of Bismuth used by BMW and BSST with better ability to perform in high-temperature zones. GM has experimented with its utility in Chevrolet which resulted in generating 350 watts of power and improving fuel economy by 3%. However, the company faced limitations in developing a similar technique with alternative materials. The firm expressed incompatibility with thermal-electric semi-conducting units, a time-consuming process, managing heating of conducting units, and expensive in terms of cost per device and cost per watt. The materials used are rare and scarce. If the alternative resource technology is not developed, it could limit the growth of thermo-electric conductors.

Growing demand for Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) fewer refrigeration units for small vending kiosks

With the increase of consumer electronics such as refrigerators, kitchen coolers, and heating devices, the demand for thermo-semi-conductors also increases. Consumer durables and commercial cooling companies are using thermo-electric semiconductors in refrigerating or heating devices because it makes the internal engineering wiring outlay compact in size, enables portability of the devices, and also makes the high-power consumption products efficient. Consumer preferences have been dynamic in terms of specifications as they now look for space-efficient, lower maintenance, and operational costs, CFC fewer emitting devices, and no compression noise. The trend of thermo-electric semi-conductors will be rising with the increase in the development of Internet of Things (IoT) based technology. For instance, Phononic founded in North Carolina, in 2009, has a compact freezer and fridge based on thermo-electric semi-conductor technology. The products are portable and thus suitable for travelling, transporting, and storing vaccines at medical and small dispensary centres. Unilever, Thermo Fisher Scientific offers competitive thermo-electric semi-conductor cooling products used by Pepsi and Unilever's small vending outlets. Furthermore, Precision Hawk suggests that thermo-electric technology can also be used on drones to supply medicines and vaccines.

Regional Analysis

Asia-Pacific nations have a demand for thermo-electric semi-Conductors which can be attributed to the demand for sustainable power-generating devices. The change in consumer preference toward green energy is expected to drive demand in North America. The Automotive and medical industry applications also contribute to the demand. Overall, China, and the USA stand in the top three leading the thermo-electric semi-conductor market followed by South Korea, Germany, and Japan. China holds a significant share in mass manufacturing semi-conductor circuit boards and thermoelements with the least cost achieving economies of scale whereas Japan and the USA have resources for research and development of cutting-edge nanotechnologies. Countries such as India have a great resource of engineering scholars and research institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology and cost-effective manufacturing facilities giving the best alternatives to investors against China. China has taken the brunt over the semi-conductors, electronics, and engineering trade due to a series of US-China trade wars and conspiracies based on initiating covid-19 leading to boycotts of Chinese origin, which has benefitted countries such as India, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, and Germany.

Segmentation

• By Type
  • Heavy
  • Nano
  • Thin-Film

• By Offering
  • Coolers
  • Generators
  • Others

• By Applications
  • Consumer Electronics
  • Telecommunications
  • Automotive
  • Mining and Power Generation
  • Others

• By Geography
  • Americas
    • USA
    • Canada
    • Others
  • Europe Middle East and Africa
    • Germany
    • Spain
    • United Kingdom
    • France
    • Others
  • Asia Pacific
    • China
    • Japan
    • South Korea
    • India
    • Others