CAMBRIDGE, UK – How far is printed/flexible electronics along the road to widespread adoption? The emerging manufacturing methodology, which replaces etched copper laminate with printed conductive inks on flexible substrates, offers multiple benefits, including flexibility/stretchability, the potential for low-cost roll-to-roll production, digital manufacturing/rapid prototyping, and improved sustainability. However, while undoubtedly the established manufacturing method for a small range of applications, printed/flexible electronics currently comprise a very small proportion of the total electronics industry.
Arguably the biggest success story of printed/flexible electronics is OLED displays, which are now ubiquitous in smartphones and widely used in TVs. However, with a few exceptions, such as foldable smartphone displays, these are neither printed nor flexible - while the emissive organic semiconductors can be printed, they are typically evaporated since that process is far more reproducible.
If OLED displays and the few established applications such as automotive seat occupancy sensors and glucose test strips are excepted, the printed/flexible electronics industry broadly follows the classic hype curve often used to describe the adoption of emerging technologies. Although clearly a simplification that aggregates many individual technologies and applications with different timelines, the hype curve nonetheless provides a helpful framework for characterizing industry sentiment.
A Compelling Vision
The original vision for printed/flexible electronics involved printing all circuit elements, including passive components such as resistors and capacitors, along with more sophisticated components such as logic and memory. Visions of printed electronic circuitry and devices such as photovoltaic panels, displays, and lighting rolling off production lines like newsprint captured the imagination. As such, printed/flexible electronics received considerable government and private funding, with many academic research groups exploring printable semiconductors for logic and photovoltaics.
This was followed in the 2000s and early 2010s by private investment into roll-to-roll production of both organic photovoltaics and printed logic, marking the zenith of the hype curve. Unfortunately, meeting market requirements of efficiency, durability, and cost proved challenging for both printed solar and logic, resulting in some cases of bankruptcy or strategic pivots.
Refining Product Market Fit
This realization that producing printed logic/memory that could compete with silicon integrated circuits was extremely challenging, along with the falling cost of conventional silicon photovoltaic panels, required adjustments from the nascent printed/flexible electronics industry. Rather than insist on printing the entire circuits, flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) gained traction as a compromise that combines conventional mounted components with printed functionality. Organic photovoltaics transitioned from aiming to compete on price to instead emphasizing other differentiators such as efficient indoor energy harvesting, lightweight for building integration, and easily tuneable designs.
Reaching the 'Slope of Enlightenment'
Recent years have seen much clearer targeting of printed/flexible electronics to specific applications where the technology offers significant enough benefits over the incumbent technology to merit adoption. Rather than 'here's a new technology with many widely relevant benefits', printed/flexible electronics companies instead offer specific solutions that happen to utilize printed/flexible electronics, often in conjunction with conventional electronics where appropriate.
As such, while the hype curve clearly hides many subtleties, IDTechEx regard the industry as a whole as on the 'slope of enlightenment'. A great example of this is successful commercialization after a strategic pivot, for example, a pivot from printed logic for RFID to producing transparent conductive foils for backlit touch interfaces that are now installed in mass-produced cars. Additional evidence for reaching this stage, where profitable use cases start to be found after the initial hype has faded, include the lack of new startups, with most early-stage players being 5-10 years old and have now identified the optimal product market fit. Furthermore, exhibited prototypes are now often produced in collaboration with a customer and generally show incremental improvements targeted at a specific application rather than novel capabilities. As such, expect to see an increasing commercial adoption of printed/flexible electronics across multiple sectors over the next few years, with applications ranging from wearable heaters to building leak sensors and from automotive touch interfaces to indoor photovoltaics.
Comprehensive Insight
IDTechEx has been researching developments in the printed and flexible electronics market for well over a decade. Since then, we have stayed close to technical and commercial developments, interviewing key players worldwide, annually attending conferences such as FLEX and LOPEC, delivering multiple consulting projects, and running classes/ workshops on the topic. "Flexible & Printed Electronics 2023-2033: Forecasts, Technologies, Markets" utilizes this experience and expertise to summarize IDTechEx's knowledge and insight across the entire field, with granular forecasts across 50 distinct applications and 40 detailed company profiles.
To find out more about this report, including downloadable sample pages, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/pe
Beaverton, OR – Coincident with our move to new offices in central Beaverton, Polar appoints Lupita Maurer as President of Polar Instruments, Inc.
"I am excited and honored to take up the opportunity of heading up Polar Inc" explains Maurer. "Ken Taylor, our outgoing president has set a high level of expectation for the organization. Polar’s increasing market in the design space, alongside our existing customer base in the PCB fabrication industry, combined with the effects of reshoring, are shaping exciting new opportunities for our US operation."
Maurer’s has been a key player in Polar’s sales operation till this point, prior to joining she held software related positions at Tektronix, giving her broad experience in a T&M background.
Taylor will retain a non-executive position on the board of the company, allowing us to tap into his years of wisdom in the business. The tight knit team at Polar Inc provide sales service and support for the expanding customer base of Signal integrity modeling, documentation and measurement tools.
For further information please contact your local Polar office, contact details may be found on our website polarinstruments.com, further product information and technical tips are on the Polar YouTube channel www.youtube.com/@polarinc.
TROY, MI – Altair (Nasdaq: ALTR), a global leader in computational science and artificial intelligence (AI), was honored as one of the 2023 Best Workplaces for Millennials by Fortune Media and Great Place To Work.
“This award is yet another testament to our outstanding organizational culture, which is created and reinforced by our employees around the world every single day,” said James R. Scapa, founder and chief executive officer, Altair. “I am incredibly proud of the diverse, positive, and validating environment we have at Altair. It is what truly sets us apart.”
“Congratulations to all of the Best Workplaces for Millennials finalists,” said Alyson Shontell, editor-in-chief, Fortune. “These companies are setting themselves up for continued success by committing to the purpose-driven work that attracts the next generation of business talent.”
To determine the honorees, Great Place To Work collected nearly 500,000 responses from millennials at companies eligible for the list. To be considered, companies had to be Great Place To Work Certified™ and have at least 50 millennial employees in the U.S. Honorees were selected based on their ability to offer positive outcomes for employees regardless of job role, race, gender, sexual orientation, work status, or other demographic identifier.
ATLANTA – With expected attendance at record levels, the ECIA Executive Conference Committee urges attendees to make reservations now to ensure a seat at the conference. This year Cliff Waldman’s very popular Global Economic Update, will be on Tuesday morning at 10:00 am.
A highly rated speaker at past ECIA conferences, Cliff Waldman is a rising voice in the D.C. policy research community. Cliff has made appearances at events on Capitol Hill and in major think tanks. He is the host of Manufacturing Talk Radio’s “Cliff Notes on the Global Manufacturing Picture." Cliff has served two years as Chairman of the Board of the National Economists Club. In 2019, he served as co-chair of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) manufacturing roundtable. In 2018, he was awarded the Certified Business Economist (CBE) designation by NABE. He received his M.A. in economics from Rutgers University.
“October is just around the corner, and our attendance numbers are already exceeding last year’s,” cautioned Stephanie Tierney, ECIA Director Marketing Communications and Member Engagement. “Book your hotel and register before it’s too late and don't miss this engaging session!”
The ECIA Executive Conference is a senior management level conference for the electronics industry’s leading companies, representing the entire component supply chain. The dates for the 2023 Executive Conference are October 22-24 at the Lowe’s Chicago O’Hare Hotel.
Registration is now open. View the conference website.
SUZHOU, CHINA – Ventec International Group Co., Ltd. (6672 TT), has announced a cooperative agreement with UK-based Giga Solutions Ltd. By leveraging Ventec’s purchasing, finance and sales resources, the new ‘Ventec Giga Solutions’ division provides a sustainable, cost-effective platform and organisation to offer full workflow solutions to our PCB and related industry customer base globally. These include factory design, equipment selection, sales, installation, and commissioning.
The agreement lets Ventec Europe and Ventec USA deliver a one-stop-shop for PCB manufacturers, OEMs and manufacturing services companies to establish and expand their PCB manufacturing facilities, leveraging Giga Solutions’ expertise and connections with leading equipment suppliers.
Henceforth trading as Ventec Giga Solutions, the UK-based team is led by Giga Solutions founder Ramesh Dhokia. The new division will offer project management, equipment suitability consulting, sourcing, and sales. Ventec Giga Solutions can also supply bespoke equipment and solutions.
Dhokia has successfully delivered projects for well-known brands and manufacturing organisations, setting up manufacturing of high-quality PCBs. He commented, “This agreement strengthens our ability to conceive and deliver high-quality solutions for our customers, leveraging the complementary technical, logistics and financial resources and supply-chain expertise of the Ventec Group.”
Mark Goodwin, COO EMEA & America at Ventec, said, “The creation of Ventec Giga Solutions expands the range of services Ventec offers to the global PCB manufacturing and related sectors and is expected to bring new customers and provide a solid base for revenue growth going forwards. With this new agreement, we have truly become the industry’s one-stop-shop to serve all our customers’ PCB needs, with the ability to offer customers discrete items through to turn-key packages of materials and process equipment.
The new cooperation builds on Giga Solutions’ 25 years of project experience in setting up production lines to build PCBs for equipment such as smart sensors, smart home devices, mobiles, industrial controls, and complex boards and backplanes for high-speed computing and communications.
Ventec’s range of laminates and prepregs include product lines optimized for superior signal integrity and high-speed digital applications, RF and analog circuits, thermally enhanced materials including insulated metal substrate (IMS) technology, and an advanced range of thermal management solutions. The company also offers a range of distribution materials and consumables and serves customers across the globe, active in industries including automotive, communication, aerospace, and defense. Further information about Ventec’s solutions and the company’s wide variety of products is available at www.venteclaminates.com
WALTHAM, MA – Nano Dimension Ltd. (Nasdaq: NNDM, “Nano Dimension”, “Nano”, “NANO” or the “Company”), a leading supplier of Additively Manufactured Electronics (“AME”) and multi-dimensional polymer, metal & ceramic Additive Manufacturing (“AM”) 3D printers, today announced the following actions that highlight a clear path to maximizing value for shareholders of Stratasys Ltd. (Nasdaq: SSYS) (“Stratasys”):
Nano Dimension has increased its special tender offer price (the “Offer”) to $25.00 per share from $24.00, in cash, less any required withholding taxes and without interest, to purchase between 31.9% and 36.9% of the outstanding ordinary shares of Stratasys.
1. The expiration date of the offer period has been extended to 5:00 p.m., New York Time, on July 31st, 2023 (unless further extended or earlier terminated).
Tendering shares to Nano will deliver 233% more cash to Stratasys shareholders in the near-term than any currently available alternative and preserves the ability to generate future value creation through strategic M&A opportunities.
The increased price represents a significant premium to all relevant Stratasys historical trading levels, including a 93% premium to the unaffected 60-day average share price4. Nano’s special tender offer is the most compelling offer for Stratasys shareholders and remains the only alternative available that provides certain, near-term cash value at a significant premium and the quickest path for Stratasys shareholders to realize value.
The successful completion of the special tender offer would increase Nano Dimension’s beneficial ownership of Stratasys to between 46% and 51% of the outstanding ordinary shares, inclusive of the approximately 14.1% of Stratasys’ outstanding ordinary shares that Nano Dimension currently owns.
Nano offer provides guaranteed cash and more certainty than any other option available to Stratasys shareholders.
Nano also announced yesterday that the required waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (“HSR”) in connection with its proposed special tender offer of Stratasys had expired and no further regulatory review by U.S. antitrust authorities is required in connection with the Offer.
2. Nano believes the current terms of 3D Systems, Inc. (NYSE: DDD) (“3D Systems”) offer is misleading, not in the best interests of Stratasys’ shareholders, and present significant Share PRICE uncertainty and transaction closing risk.
Nano believes that the latest 3D Systems offer’s value is inflated by an unsustainable 3D Systems share price.
On a 30- , 60-, 90- and 180-day VWAP basis, 3D Systems offer is worth barely $22 per share, substantially below Nano’s $25.00 all-cash offer.
Additionally, since 3D Systems’ latest offer on July 13th, 2023, its share price has declined 6%5, further highlighting the significant value uncertainty of the majority stock consideration of 3D Systems’ offer.
Actually, 3D Systems’ Proposal is worth Only $7.50 per share in cash. The rest is an uncertain value as $14.50 in 3D Systems shares is not necessarily a realistic value:
Since the price of 3D Systems’ shares may sink before, during and long after the 3D/Stratasys transaction, as a result of the huge expected dilution (doubling the amount of 3D Systems shares in order to acquire Stratasys), as described below:
3D Systems’ offer will nearly fully deplete its cash position and the combined company will need to raise capital promptly (as indicated by 3D Systems’ recent shelf registration filing). The capital will likely be raised at a share price discount, which will create additional pressure on 3D Systems’ stock price and result in further dilution and value destruction to 3D Systems and Stratasys shareholders.
3D Systems’ offer has execution risk as it will require shareholder votes from both companies and regulatory review.
3. As Stratasys’ largest shareholder, Nano Dimension OPPOSES Stratasys’ proposed combination with Desktop Metal, Inc. (NYSE: DM) (“Desktop Metal”), which, as structured, is highly dilutive and greatly overvalues Desktop Metal’s cash-burning business.
Following the successful completion of the special tender offer, as the largest shareholder of Stratasys, Nano Dimension intends to support a review of strategic alternatives for Stratasys to further enhance shareholder value, including through industry consolidation, possibly through a negotiated combination with 3D Systems OR: increasing Nano’s ownership of Stratasys to 100%.
Following the successful consummation of Nano’s Special Tender Offer, Nano intends to explore various strategic alternatives, including but not limited to:
pursuing a negotiated combination of Stratasys with 3D Systems at appropriate terms, and/or
purchasing the remaining portion of Stratasys to reach 100% ownership as soon as practical and permissible by U.S. and Israeli law.
Completing a transaction for all of Stratasys is a step in NANO’s broader industry consolidation strategy, focused on profitability and cash generation to drive value for all shareholders.
Additional Special Tender Offer Information
Shareholders who have validly tendered and not properly withdrawn their Stratasys shares do not need to re-tender their shares or take any other action in response to the increase in price of the Offer. Shareholders who have not yet tendered their Stratasys shares or filed a notice of objection will be given the opportunity to do so in the same manner and under the same terms and conditions as set out in the Offer.
Based on information provided by Computershare Trust Company, N.A., the depositary for the tender offer, as of 5:00 p.m., New York time, on July 17th, 2023, 4,100,607 Stratasys shares had been validly tendered and not properly withdrawn pursuant to the Offer.
Nano Dimension will amend its tender offer statement on Schedule TO, and the related exhibits, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and will disseminate a supplement to the offer to purchase to Stratasys shareholders reflecting the increased offer price and extended offer period.
