Although the market share of Japan's printing industry has decreased by 1.9 trillion yen in the past ten years, a drop of 27%, this does not prevent printing giants such as Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. (TOPPAN) and Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) continue to dominate the world!
And the ceiling of today's global printing industry - 12.9 billion US dollars, is built by Japan's Toppan Printing.
Global Printed Ceiling
Founded in 1900, headquartered in Tokyo, with 11,000 employees, it was originally a printing company, and then gradually expanded its business to high-tech fields such as semiconductors and digital imaging, including color filters, semiconductor masks, BGA substrates, and lead frames. , image sensors, etching products, printed circuit boards, etc., is a company with strong cross-border capabilities.
According to the financial report data disclosed by Toppan Printing, as of March 2021, the company achieved sales of 1.49 trillion yen, or about 12.9 billion US dollars.
And Amcor from Australia, the kangaroo country, after acquiring another printing giant, BEMIS, its revenue in fiscal year 2020 soared by 31.82% to US$12.47 billion, squeezing out the No. 2 position of Dainippon Printing in one fell swoop. Dainippon Printing’s revenue in 2020 was US$12.2 billion, slightly behind Amcor and ranked third.
It is a pity that Donnelly, the global printing boss ten years ago, saw a year-on-year decline of 24.06% in revenue in 2020, and it can record a record of 4.766 billion US dollars, which has been thrown a few streets away by the first echelon.
Master printing core technology
Also facing the decline of commercial printing, when Nally's aging and the strides of Letterpress have formed a sharp contrast, then, what is Toppan doing right?
The success of Toppan Printing is that it continues to challenge the limits of printing technology and is very good at using the core technology it has acquired in printing to continuously expand its business activities into various new areas, including: packaging, security, electronics, digital Imaging, and light guide luminescence.
Looking through the public information on the Internet, we can learn that the first pot of gold in Toppan printing was excavated in the fields of securities printing and anti-counterfeiting printing by using new technologies. In the early years, many of China's ID cards, bank cards, credit cards and other cards were printed by Japan's Toppan Company, and its influence is evident.
During the ups and downs in the business field, the successive presidents of Toppan Printing adhered to the concept of being one step ahead in technology, which established the company's leading position in technology in the global printing industry.
As early as the late 1950s, Toppan Printing was committed to developing new technologies using printing plate-making technology, such as the photomask technology that dominates the world today, which was the foundation laid at that time.
The "hidden champion" in the field of semiconductor materials
Photomask, or lithography mask, also known as photomask, is a pattern master mainly used in the lithography process of integrated circuit manufacturing. The photomask raw material is a reticle substrate, which is a photosensitive blank for making fine photomask patterns.
In the global semiconductor industry, photomask is an extremely important material, occupying 15% of the market space of the semiconductor industry.
The United States is the birthplace of semiconductor technology, and famous companies such as Intel and IBM have long led the development trend of semiconductor technology. And Toppan cooperated with IBM to jointly develop and mastered the advanced photomask technology. In the field of photomask production, American companies have also dominated the market in the past, including DuPont in the United States. In 2005, the DuPont photomask business was acquired by Toppan, establishing Toppan's leading position in the market.
Today, in the photomask market, Japan is at the forefront, and Toppan Printing has a market share of 30%. After many acquisitions and technical cooperation, Toppan has continuously extended its product line, growing from a printing company to a hidden champion in the field of semiconductor materials.
According to the latest data released by the WSTS World Semiconductor Trade Statistics Organization in August 2021, the global semiconductor industry has grown from US$204.4 billion in 2000 to US$606.5 billion in 2022, with a compound growth rate of 6.09% from 2010 to 2022, with a growth rate of 6.09%. faster than in the first decade of the 21st century.
According to CINNO Research industry information, recently, the supply and demand of photomasks have turned red. Due to insufficient supply, prices have risen, and delivery times have been delayed. As the supply and demand situation of Photo Mask deteriorates, orders are flocking to major suppliers such as Photronics, Toppan, DNP, TMC, etc., and prices are also rising. The prices of high-spec products and low-spec Photo Masks are expected to increase by 5%~15% and 15%~25%, respectively.
It is safe to say that in the next few years, Toppan Printing will still be able to enjoy the dividends of the semiconductor industry. Unfortunately, the liveliness only belongs to high-tech companies such as Japan and the United States, and China's printing industry has a long way to go.