Market Introduction

The global carbon nanotubes market was valued at USD 3.33 billion in 2024 and grew at a CAGR of 13% from 2025 to 2034. The market is expected to reach USD 11.30 billion by 2034. The rapid advancement and growth of the semiconductor industry will drive the growth of the global carbon nanotubes market.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) is a tubular nanomaterial made up of the carbon atoms that are arranged in a hexagonal configuration, just like in the case of graphene. Such tubes may consist of only one shell of carbon atoms or a multitude of concentric shells. CNTs were discovered in the early 1990s and are currently subject to active scientific and commercial interest because of their extraordinary mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties. They have phenomenal tensile strength far more than steel has, and at the same time are exceptionally lightweight. CNTs have also high potential with regard to application in nanoelectronics and flexible circuits since they can be electrically utilized in either metal or semiconductor forms, depending on the structure. their thermal conductivity is one of the highest known to date hence they can be used in micro-devices dissipation. They are applied in TVs, amplifiers, and in the frames of conductive films. They are used as reinforcement materials in composite materials, in aerospace, automotive industry, sports equipment, making something stronger, without making it much heavier. Due to their conductivity and high surface area, they are also applicable to other energy storage technologies including lithium-ion battery and supercapacitors. CNTs have been examined in the biomedical field in areas of drug delivery, imaging, and biosensing based on their unusual surface chemistry, as well as cell membrane penetrability.

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Recent Development

• An electric motor without the usage of conventional copper coils has been created by engineers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).  To cut weight, it uses carbon nanotube (CNT) technology instead. In addition to being far lighter than regular metals, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are one-dimensional tube-shaped nanomaterials containing carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal honeycomb pattern. They also have exceptional mechanical strength, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

Technological advancements – The fact that the mechanical strength of CNTs is by far superior to those of traditional materials. Furthermore, CNTs present excellent electrical and thermal conductivity and stability properties, and thus they are very well-suited to electronics, energy storage, and thermal management systems. The second and a considerable driving factor is versatility of CNTs which can be customized to a large number of different uses. Carbon nanotubes, especially those that are singled walled (SWCNTs) prove to be preferentially used in superior electronic applications, whereas ballooned carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are massively employed in composite materials. This flexibility increases the suitability of said material in the market regarding relatively different fields. Besides, ongoing technological advances in synthetic methods, notably chemical vapor deposition (CVD) have made CNTs purer, more uniform, and scalable. These advances have helped not only in cost cuts and increased commercial viability but also have enabled broader adoption of the market.

Restraints

High costs of production – High cost of production is among the greatest barrier to the market’s growth. Although chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique is generally extensively applied, it is costly and demands highly controlled conditions to produce high quality CNTs. This renders many industries economically unable to conduct large-scale production, particularly those ones that operate on tight margins. Also, essential is the realization of reliability and cleanliness in CNT synthesis. Differences in the structure, the diameter, the number of the walls, the existence of defects can have a significant impact on the electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties of CNTs and therefore pose a limitation in utilising the CNTs in applications that require high dependence on performance. The other significant limitation is the fact that CNTs are difficult to uniformly scatter in a range of mediums like in polymers, resins or solvents. This increases the processing time and cost and also the performance of the final product. In addition, there is no industry-wide standard in grade, specifications, and quality control baselines which makes selections and integration of materials difficult.

Opportunities

Market trends and industrial developments – The accelerated growth of end-use products sectors including the electronics, automotive, aerospace and energy as well as healthcare sectors will drive the market’s growth. Since these industries are aiming at innovative technology in terms of performance, efficiency and sustainability, there has been a substantial rise in the demands of advanced material such as CNTs. The other major external driver is the world focus on sustainability and carbon emission drive. The industries are gradually concentrating on lightweighting, fuel consumption and application of greener technologies. Their unique strength-to-weight ratio and their possible contribution to clean energy storage and transmission makes CNTs a good match to these sustainability aims. Besides, the government provision in terms of funding, tax incentives and national nanotechnology programs, especially, in locations such as North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific have contributed to the research and development programs, which has created a conducive environment toward CNT commercialization. In addition, strategic partnership between universities and research institutions and pharma companies are speeding up development of CNTs and commercial production of tonnage.

Segment Analysis

Regional segmentation analysis

The regions analyzed for the market include North America, Europe, South America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. Asia Pacific emerged as the most significant global carbon nanotubes market, with a 37% market revenue share in 2024.

Countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, and India have well established electronics industry, automotive industry and manufacturing. China is the biggest producer and consumer of CNTs because it has huge production units, government support and also costing advantage in raw materials and labour. Early adopters of CNT technology have been Japan and South Korea, who are known to be very innovative in the areas of electronics and high-end materials. Japan and South Korea have CNT in semiconductors, displays, high performance polymers and in other applications. Furthermore, there are positive moves by governments, partnerships between the governments and the private sector, and research funding into the study of CNT so that acceleration in the commercialization of the CNT technologies drives the regional market’s growth. Consequently, Asia-Pacific is not only the leader in terms of the volume consumption, but also in terms of innovation, which means that this region has become the epicentre of the CNT market development in the world.

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Type Segment Analysis

The type segment is divided into single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The multi-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) segment dominated the market, with a market share of around 56% in 2024. The global carbon nanotubes market is fairly dominated by the multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), which are cheaper, easy to manufacture/produce, and applicable in a wide range of industries. MWCNTs can be produced on greater scales and utilized with more available strategies like chemical vapor deposition (CVD), arc discharge, and laser ablation. Such scalability makes the production of MWCNTs a lot cheaper, thus, more cost-effective and applicable on an industrial basis. They have a stronger core-cycle architecture with a series of concentric layers of graphene-cylinders which act as the core, thereby resulting in more significant mechanical and thermal stability as compared with their conventional counterparts providing material reinforcement of automotive parts, building materials and sporting goods. MWCNTs are also characterized by good electrical conductivity that is being utilized in such applications as in conductive polymers, electromagnetic shielding and in antistatic coating. These properties of MWCNTs are useful in industries like aerospace, electronics, and energy storage as MWCNTs are used in place of heavy structural members, heat management, and battery anodes. The reduced technical barrier to use, the greater functionality and regulatory approval, means that MWCNTs make them the choice preference in established and new applications.

Method of production Segment Analysis

The method of production segment is divided chemical vapor deposition (CVD), arc discharge, laser ablation and high-pressure carbon monoxide (HiPCO) process. The chemical vapor deposition (CVD) segment dominated the market, with a market share of around 38% in 2024. The global production of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) market is dominated by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) method which boasts of scaling, affordability, and increased ability of controlling the structural characteristics. Out of all available methods, CVD is the most common and commercially applicable method. It allows the synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotube and multi-walled carbon nanotube under a highly controlled condition where a hydrocarbon gas is converted into single- and multi- walled carbon nanotube through metal catalysts at high temperature. Such a sealed environment enables the fine tuning of parameters such as temperature, pressure, and gas composition to give CNTs with desirable sizes, length, diameter, and alignment. The versatility of CVD to a variety of substrate materials and catalysts provides it with flexibility as it can be used in large-scale industries. It also helps in uninterrupted production which is important in commercial activities that want to have good supply chains and sharing of economies as well. This is especially popular in the production of multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) which are the most popular in the CNT market, making the CVD stand out further in the market. Electronic, energy storage, aerospace and automotive industries choose CVD-synthesized CNTs due to their quality and versatility of features.

• The ultrafast dynamics of quasi-particles called excitons, which are created in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) upon light excitation, have been successfully visualised by a research team led by Dr. Jun Nishida and Dr. Takashi Kumagai at the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS)/SOKENDAI. They collaborated with Dr. Taketoshi Minato, Dr. Keigo Otsuka at The University of Tokyo, and Dr. Yuichiro K. Kato (Chief Researcher at RIKEN).

Application Segment Analysis

The application segment is divided into composites, conductive films, energy storage, sensors & biosensors, drug delivery and field emission displays. The composites segment dominated the market, with a market share of around 35% in 2024. Composites are the largest segment of this market mainly because the CNTs have an outstanding advantage in increasing the mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of the core materials. The carbon nanotube, mostly multi-walled, is commonly incorporated in polymer, metal and ceramic composites to manufacture composite materials with high performances. These composites made using CNTs are stronger in relation to their weight, more durable, thermally conductive, and able to resist wear and corrosion better. These improvements are highly valued in industries such as aerospace, automotive, construction and sports equipment manufacture, where materials have to comply with the high-performance criteria, but should also be lightweight. CNTs present the opportunity of enhancing the structural integrity and multifunctionality of a composite dramatically and not having to sacrifice processability. There have also been increased demands pertaining to energy-efficient and ultra-lightweight catalyst vehicles and this has led to increased use of CNT composites in automobile industries as reducing weight directly translates to fuel savings and less emissions. Since industries are always in need of stronger, lighter and smarter materials, demand of CNT-based composite will keep increasing and this will further cement its status as the major application segment in carbon nanotubes market.

• By creating a unique catalyst that enables exact control over the atomic arrangement of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), or chirality, scientists have made a major advancement in the synthesis of CNTs.  This breakthrough solves a problem that has been unsolved for more than 30 years and opens the door for the development of novel semiconductor devices.

End-use industry Segment Analysis

The end-use industry segment is divided into electronics & semiconductors, energy & storage devices, automotive, aerospace & defence, healthcare & life sciences and chemicals & polymers. The electronics & semiconductors segment dominated the market, with a share of around 37% in 2024. The electronics and semiconductor sector is at the top position in terms of the demand for carbon nanotubes (CNTs) because of the excellent electrical, thermal and mechanical features at the nanoscale, which CNTs provide. CNTs especially single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have shown very good electron mobility and conductivity and can therefore serve well in advanced electronic components including transistors, interconnects, conductive films and transparent electrodes. The next potential benefit that encourages CNT use in electronics is the ability to enhance operational speed and energy efficiency in nano-semiconductor related devices. The increasing need of low power, flexibility, and high-speed electronic applications like smartphones, tablets, screens, sensors, and Internet of Things device hardware has only made the CNT adoption faster. Also, new breakthroughs in the synthesis and dispersion methods of CNT have made incorporation of CNT easier into the current semiconductor manufacturing process. With the innovation that is transforming the face of electronics, the role of carbon nanotubes is becoming stronger and stronger, cementing the position of the industry as a leader in the carbon nanotubes market.

Some of the Key Market Players

• Arkema SA
• Arry International Group Limited
• Cabot Corporation
• Carbon Solutions, Inc.
• CHASM Advanced Materials (CHASM)
• Continental Carbon Nanotechnologies, Inc.
• Hanwha Solutions Chemical Division Corporation
• Jiangsu Cnano Technology Co., Ltd
• Nanocyl SA
• Resonac Holdings Corporation
• SHOWA DENKO K.K.

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