LOS ANGELES — Lithium-ion batteries will displace nickel-metal hydrides (NiMH) as the rechargeable battery of choice in cell phones and personal computers this year, and lithium-polymers are hot on their trail, according to Hideo Takeshita, research vice president of the Institute of Information Technology, addressing the Power2002 conference here.
While 740 million lithium-ion cells were shipped in 2002, lithium-polymer technology offers greater storage capacity and its costs are approaching lithium-ion's, Takeshita said. In addition, lithium-polymer technology can assume compact, oddly-shaped form factors, which helps explain its increased use. Twenty million lithium-polymer cells were used in 2001, increasing to 50 million in 2002, Takeshita said.
Sony Corp. is currently the market's primary supplier of lithium-polymer batteries, but Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. and other suppliers are coming onstream, and cell phone makers Ericsson and Nokia are lining up as users, Takeshita said.
Lithium polymer is a gel that requires curing, and thus requires a longer manufacturing cycle than lithium-ion cells, Takeshita said. But demand has reached a critical mass, and suppliers are responding, Takeshita said.
Two factors driving increased lithium-polymer usage are cell phone demand, with each of the world market's roughly 400- to 500-million handsets requiring two cells, and longer talk time, which pushes up the cost of rechargeable batteries, Takeshita said.
Close crossover
Lithium-ion batteries with capacity in the 1.8-to-2.0 ampere-hour range are priced roughly at $2.40, and demand is increasing for lithium-ions with higher 2.2 ampere-hour capacities, with prices closer to $2.80, Takeshita said. That's close to the crossover point for lithium-polymer batteries, which are priced close to $3.00 for a battery with 2.4 ampere-hours of capacity, he said.
The 15 percent annual growth rates seen by lithium rechargeable batteries in the 1990s is over, but a 4 percent growth rate will take sales to $6 billion in 2010, Takeshita said.
"Theoretically, this should be a profitable business," he said, with a pessimism cultivated by declining prices.
RSS
Digital
10 in trouble:
EE Times has assembled a list of 10 companies (or more) that seem in particular danger of continuing to spill red ink, being acquired, seeking bankruptcy protection or just not being around in current form a year from now.
10 fab technologies on the hot seat:
There's trouble brewing in chip-making paradise. Delivery of chips at 32-nm and beyond won't be a cool breeze. EE Times has constructed the following list of 10 fab technologies that could make or break future IC scaling.
6 fab technologies on the bubble:
It isn't going to be a slam-dunk to deliver chips at 32-nm and beyond. See our story about 10 fab technologies on the hot seat. Then read this article: 6 technologies on the bubble.
Our take on Intel-River:
With its acquisition of embedded software leader Wind River Systems Inc., Intel Corp. has unambiguously signaled that it is again attempting to diversify beyond X86 processors. Here's our take on the deal.
Can wireless HD survive?:
When Yoav Nissan-Cohen, chairman and CEO of Amimon, stopped by our offices here to discuss the state of the wireless video networking industry, he had three messages to deliver.
Hot technologies to watch for in 2009:
Every technologist, marketer, industry analyst and reporter on a hunt for the next big thing is bracing for the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show scheduled less than a month away.
Top 20 predictions for semis in 2009:
To help sort out the confusion in the market, EE Times has released its own chip forecasts--and other predictions--for 2009. So, what will happen in analog, FPGAs, foundry, memory, MPUs and other sectors?
Silicon 60 version 8.0
The EE Times 60 Emerging Startups list, first published in April 2004, has been updated to version 8.0 to reflect the latest corporate, commercial, technology and market conditions.
RSS| 
Digital| 
Mobile
