China's magnetic materials industry

The integration of China's magnetic materials industry with 5G technology is driving the industry to comprehensively upgrade from basic material supply to high-end device and system solutions. The large-scale deployment of 5G base stations (over 3.37 million nationwide by the end of 2024) has directly driven a huge demand for high-frequency, low loss soft magnetic materials, with an annual demand of over 4000 tons for base stations alone. In order to meet the stringent requirements of high frequency, miniaturization, and high integration in 5G, the material system has undergone profound changes: traditional Mn Zn ferrite has been replaced by Ni Zn ferrite, amorphous and nanocrystalline alloys, etc. The latter reduces the magnetic core loss by 30-50% in the frequency range of 100kHz-10MHz compared to traditional materials. Domestic enterprises such as Hengdian Dongci have achieved mass production of high-performance Ni Zn ferrite and introduced it into the 5G supply chain. At the device level, magnetic integration technology, planar transformers, and LTCC processes are widely used to achieve high power density and efficiency in limited spaces. Frontier research continues to push the limits of physics, such as the nitrogen doped hollow soft magnetic alloy/carbon composite material developed by a team from Tongji University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which for the first time achieved full absorption of electromagnetic waves in the 5G mainstream frequency band (n77/n78/n79). This integration has promoted the shift of industrial value focus from 'material ontology' to 'material device algorithm' integrated solutions, accelerating the structural transformation of China's magnetic materials industry towards high-frequency, miniaturization, and high-end.