The touch-screen sensor market has emerged as a key market for the novel transparent conductors.  Many of the suppliers of these materials have targeted the touch screen market as a source of new revenues and for a number of reasons.  Thanks to Apple, this market is viewed universally as a fast growth customer for transparent conductors, while at the same time the touch sector is said by many to be more open to adoption of new materials and processes than the mainstream display industry.

NanoMarkets has been covering the transparent conductor market for six years now.  We largely agree with the above analysis, but see it as incomplete.  While providing much-valued early revenues for transparent conductor firms, we believe that the touch sensor market will remain too small to support all of those suppliers vying to sell alternative transparent conductor materials into this market.  And, although there have been a number of notable successes by suppliers of novel materials into the touch sector, ITO continues to do a good job in much of this sector.

With this in mind, NanoMarkets has put together this report analyzing the demand for transparent conductors in the touch-screen business and showing how strategies for developing this market can be developed for maximum benefit to the supplier of transparent conductor.  This report includes an eight-year forecast of revenues and volume shipments of transparent conductors into the touch screen sensor market as well as an assessment of the current strategies of the leading firms active in this sector.

Executive Summary

E.1 Opportunities by type of touch sensor
E.1.1 Analog resistive
E.1.2 Projected capacitive
E.2 Which transparent conductors will get the nod from the touch-sensor industry?
E.3 Supply chain strategies for transparent conductor firms serving the touch sector
E.4 The touch-screen market as a channel to bigger markets
E.4 Summary of eight-year forecasts of transparent conductors for touch sensors

Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Background to this report
1.2 Objective and scope of this report
1.3 Plan of this report

Chapter Two: Opportunities for Transparent Conductors in Touch Screen Markets
2.1 Analog resistive markets
2.2 Projected Capacitive markets
2.3 Other types of touch screen sensor
2.4 Impact on the transparent conductor market of mainstream display firms getting into the touch business
2.5 Impact of other changes in the display industry
2.5.1 Product trends:  Of iPads and the growing role of touch
2.5.2 The rise of Chinese technology

Chapter Three: Transparent Conductors
3.1 Whose market is it really?  ITO or alternatives in the touch sector
3.2 The role for alternative transparent conductive oxides
3.3 The role of conductive polymers
3.4 The role of nanomaterials
3.4.1 Silver-based nanomaterials
3.4.2 Carbon nanotube-based materials
3.5 Other alternative materials

Chapter Four:  Forecasts of Transparent Conductors in Touch Display Sensor Markets
4.1 Forecasting methodology
4.1.1 Key assumptions
4.1.2 Sources of information
4.2 Eight-year forecasts of ITO and alternative transparent conductors in the touch-screen sensor market
4.2.2 Breakout by type of touch sensor
4.2.3 Breakout by type of material
4.3 Levels of confidence in our existing forecasts and alternative scenarios