The embedded antenna systems market in South America is segmented into Brazil, Argentina, and the Rest of South America. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Molex, LLC (Koch Industries, Inc.); and TE Connectivity Corporation are a few of the major players catering to the market in South America. In 2018, more than 70% of the Colombian population above the age of five had a smartphone; the percentage rose from 63.4% in 2016. In 2019, Chile had the highest smartphone penetration rate of 71% in South America.
TE Connectivity, Kyocera AVX Components Corporation, Amphenol, Yageo Group, and Molex – Prominent Market Participants in Embedded Antenna System Market
The demand for passenger cars is increasing considerably in South America. Passenger cars involve significant integration of GPS and infotainment systems. With the challenge of attaining carbon neutrality by 2050, Chile’s government has forged an agreement with businesses, electricity companies, and other public and private stakeholders to promote electromobility. In 2020, Silvia Emaldi, the Usinas Y Transmisiones Eléctricas (UTE) President, announced that Uruguay would have 133 charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) across the nation. Until the 4th quarter of 2019, the count of contactless cards in Latin America almost tripled over the year. As per insights mentioned in the Mastercard Data & Services Report, 35% of respondents in Latin America and the Caribbean said that their usage of contactless payments has increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the increasing number of smartphone users, burgeoning use of payment cards for contactless transactions, and proliferation of the automotive sector drive the embedded antenna systems market growth in South America.
The containment measures imposed by several South American countries to combat the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus hindered all economic activities in the region in 2020, thereby hampering the overall GDP of the region. Due to lockdowns in various cities, such as Brazil and Argentina, the consumer electronics manufacturers and automotive manufacturers suspended their production operations temporarily or operated with less capacity, which reduced the demand for embedded antenna systems between Q1 and Q2 of 2020. As both the demand and supply were declined, the embedded antenna systems market in the region experienced a negative impact of the pandemic in the first two quarters of 2020. However, with the normalization of economic activities and the above-mentioned industries operating from the Q3 of 2020, the embedded antenna systems market in the region started to experience growth.
TE Connectivity, Kyocera AVX Components Corporation, Amphenol, Yageo Group, and Molex – are among the well-known players operating in the global embedded antenna system market and are focused on product development and innovations. Brazil is the largest country in South America, with one of the world’s largest economies in terms of nominal GDP and purchasing power parity. Automobiles and consumer electronics are among the key industries that contribute to the embedded antenna systems market growth in Brazil. Furthermore, Brazil is the largest country in South America and Central America in terms of population. The smartphone penetration rate in the country in 2019 was 45.6%, which increased to 51.4% in 2020. Brazil had 96.9 million smartphone users in 2019, which increased to 109.34 million in 2020. Payment transactions through near field communication technology (NFC) witnessed a notable rise in the country, with 285% growth in November 2020 as compared to the same month of the preceding year. NFC transactions involve the use of a chip antenna. The count of cars sold in Brazil in 2020 was over 1.5 million units. As per Anfavea, Brazil’s auto industry production is estimated to grow by 9.4% in 2022 as compared to the previous year, as it is recovering from the 32% drop recorded in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the rising production of automobiles, increasing use of contactless payment cards, and growing consumer electronics sector drive the embedded antenna systems market growth in Brazil.
The top five companies in the market are TE Connectivity, Kyocera AVX Components Corporation, Amphenol, Yageo Group, and Molex. The above listing of key players is derived by considering multiple factors such as overall revenue, current embedded antenna system market portfolio, new product launches, market initiatives, investment in technology up-gradation, mergers & acquisitions, and other joint activities. A few of the important market initiatives and product developments from the industry are mentioned below:
| Year | News | Region |
| 2022 | Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced that it has developed a prototype of the world’s smallest antenna for high-precision satellite-based positioning in four frequency bands used by the world’s main satellite-positioning systems and positioning-augmentation services. | APAC |
| 2022 | KYOCERA AVX is launching the evaluation board for testing antenna band switching performance at CES 2022 in Las Vegas. | North America |
| 2022 | Taoglas announced its new smallest 9-in-1 combination antenna with dual-band GNSS and high-performance 5G/4G, miniature IoT speakers and 38 new superior performance RF connectors. | Europe |
