Electroninks, the Austin-based manufacturer of metal complex inks for electronics applications, has partnered with SAKATA INX, a Japanese company that manufactures a variety of inks, including materials for the electronics industry. Through the partnership, Electroninks will expand globally and enhance its R&D capabilities, while also helping SAKATA branch out into new product lines for electronics manufacturing.
This is at least the second partnership between Electroninks and a Japanese materials supplier, with the Texas company having struck a partnership in the fall of 2022 with FUJIFILM Imaging Colorants Inc. Via that deal, the division of the Japanese optics conglomerate began contract manufacture of silver inks from Electroninks’ portfolio at Imaging Colorant Inc.’s facility in New Castle, Delaware. Thus, the partnership with SAKATA INX means Electroninks now has a bilateral relationship with the Japanese market.
Electroninks’ material portfolio currently includes conductive inks made from silver, platinum, nickel, copper, and gold. The company also makes the Circuit Jet inkjet printer, designed for printed circuit board (PCB) prototyping.
Electroninks has a number of connections to US government agencies, including backing from the intelligence community venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel, the Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office, and funding from the Department of Energy (DOE). The company has also been funded by the venture capital arms of global giants like semiconductor manufacturer Applied Materials, and pharmaceutical company Merck.
Always a crucial factor in the dynamics of the global economy, the trade relationship between the US and Japan has taken on a resurgent significance in the last year, especially, as major US investors have poured capital into the island nation. The desire of both nations to counter Chinese dominance in the South China Sea is one obvious explanation for the latest acceleration in US-Japanese strategic alignment.
Beyond that, though, there is the simple fact that the ties between the two nations are already so extensive that making major changes to one of the economies would be virtually impossible without making the same changes, in parallel, to the other economy. This means that any connections between the US and Japan are particularly relevant to the task of analyzing and anticipating the growth trajectory of advanced manufacturing.
If the US and Japan are forging increasing ties related to conductive inks, then, as appears to be the case, this on its own suggests the growing importance of conductive inks to the emerging global advanced manufacturing ecosystem. Electroninks’ global expansion is far from the only piece of evidence reinforcing this line of argument, but it seems to be a good bet that 3D printed electronics components will be a feature, and not a bug, of the next era of industrialization.
Images courtesy of Electroninks
Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter
Stay up-to-date on all the latest news from the 3D printing industry and receive information and offers from third party vendors.
You May Also Like
Further Understanding of 3D Printing Design at ADDITIV Design World
ADDITIV is back once again! This time, the virtual platform for additive manufacturing will be holding the first-ever edition of ADDITIV Design World on May 23rd from 9:00 AM –...
3D Printer Maker EVO-tech Reborn as NEVO3D — Once More With Feeling
EVO-tech was a 3D printing service and original equipment manufacturer established in 2013 and based in Schörfling am Attersee, Austria. The company produced high-quality material extrusion systems featuring linear bearings,...
3D Systems Brings 3D Printed PEEK Cranial Implant to the U.S. with FDA Clearance
For more than 10 years, 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) has worked hand-in-hand with surgeons to plan over 150,000 patient-specific cases, and develop more than two million instruments and implants from its...
CDFAM Returns to Berlin for Second Annual Symposium
The second CDFAM Computational Design Symposium is scheduled for May 7-8, 2024, in Berlin, and will convene leading experts in computational design across all scales. Building upon the first event...