Russia may begin to produce the thinnest copper foil for microchips by 2020

EKATERINBURG, Jul 11, 2019, Pan Pacific Agency. The Russian Copper Company (RCC) is planning to launch a copper electrolytic foil production line at the Kyshtym Copper Electrolytic Plant (KCEP, Chelyabinsk Region) in 2020. The president of RCC, Vsevolod Levin declared this to journalists at the international industrial exhibition «Innoprom». The KCEP was founded in 1757; RCC acquired the plant in 2004. Today, the annual production of the KCEP is about 140,000 tons of copper cathodes and 140,000 tons of copper rods per year, reported the Pan Pacific Agency.

The new KCEP’s production has no analogues in Russia. Copper electrolytic foil with the thickness from 9 to 105 microns in the amount of 1,200 tons per year will be produced here. The products are widely used for the production of microchips for smartphones and portable gadgets in the electronics industry, as well as for the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries, for example, for electric cars. Flexible circuits, cross-connect equipment, batteries, rigid printed circuit boards are produced from foil up to 20 microns thick, stressed in the Russian Copper Company.

At present time Russia’s share in the world production of copper electrolytic foil is zero. The current demand of the Russian copper electrolytic foil market is estimated at about 300 tons of foil per year. The new plant’s production capacity of the copper electrolytic foil will be sufficient to fully cover the current needs of Russian manufacturers of high-tech products in this material, said in RCC.

According to PMR’s (2017) and Russian UMMC’s (2018) market analysis, the global copper mining is around 20 million tons, copper production – around 24 million tons per year. The global copper foil market’s volume is estimated at 411,000 tons ($6,66 billion). About 370,000 tons now is an Asia Pacific states.
According to PMR, about 40-50% of copper foil produce JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation, Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd., Furukawa Electric Company (Japan), Jiangxi Copper Corporation (China). One of the biggest copper foil manufacturers also located in India (Arcotech Ltd.), Hong Kong (Kingboard Copper Foil Holdings Ltd.), South Korea (LS MTRON Ltd.).

According to forecasts, the value of the market will reach 775,000 tons or $16 billion by the end of 2025. The LAMEA region will consume copper electrolytic foil at a cost of $170 million, Europe – $375 million, North America – $740 million, Asia Pacific – about $14,7 billion. Russian copper foil market’s volume is estimated at $4,1 million by the 2025.

So, the Asia Pacific region is a key copper electrolytic foil market: about 90% of the global market’s volume consumed in the region. More than half of the world’s electronics is produced in Asia Pacific countries. Asia Pacific will show relatively high aggregate annual growth rate (CAGR) for the forecast period.