In recent years, the increasing growth of international industrial automation, new energy, and automotive electronics has driven market demand for high-power relays. However, the price trend of this vital component is shooting sharply in 2025. In this article, we will discuss the essential causes of the price rise from different perspectives such as supply chain, policy environment, and technology iteration, and provide recommendations to industry players for coping with the situation.
1, Rising raw material costs for manufacturing enterprises
The main materials for high-power relays include copper, silver alloy contacts, engineering plastics, and semiconductor components. In 2025, several factors will lead to a surge in raw material prices:
·Metal market volatility: Due to strikes in Chile, Peru, and other major producing countries, global copper prices have risen by 18%, while silver alloy prices have increased by 25% year-on-year due to the growing demand in the photovoltaic industry.
·Chip supply chain tightening: The increasing demand for high-performance chips in the automotive electronics and industrial control markets has forced semiconductor component delivery cycles to exceed six months, with prices for certain models rising by over 40%.
·The cost of replacing materials in the environment: In order to meet RoHS and other environmental requirements, the company needs to use lead-free soldering processes and high specification insulation materials, resulting in a production cost increase of about 15%.
2, Demand side explosion: New energy and automotive electronics become the core driving forces
1. Rapid development of new energy industry
The widespread installation of photovoltaic inverters and energy storage systems has driven the growth in demand for high-voltage and high current relays. In the first half of 2025, the procurement volume of relays in China's new energy sector will only increase by 62% year-on-year.
2. Automotive electronics upgrade
The demand for electric vehicles has driven the use of single vehicle relays from 20 ordinary vehicles to over 50 vehicles, and automotive grade products require higher high temperature and vibration performance. By 2025, the global market size of automotive PCB relays will exceed 3.2 billion US dollars,
3. Popularization rate of industrial automation
The requirement for equipment reliability in smart factories has led to a 30% reduction in the replacement cycle of industrial control relays. Nowadays, the development and types of relays are also more inclined towards intelligence and industrialization.
3, Policies and regulations: Environmental compliance raises industry barriers
The government has strengthened environmental protection policies, forcing enterprises to upgrade their technology:
The EU's dual carbon bill requires traceability of the carbon footprint of relay products, and companies must invest an additional cost of 10% -20% for line conversion.
China's new energy efficiency standards: Starting from 2025, high-power relays with third to second level energy efficiency and low efficiency products must be removed from the market, with a price premium of up to 8% -15% for compliant models.
Increased trade barriers: The anti-dumping duty on imported relays in the North American market has been raised to 22%, increasing the selling price of terminals.
Conclusion
In total, the high-power relay price increase in 2025 is the culmination of numerous factors. Rising raw material prices, strong demand within the market, supply chain challenges, and the impact of policy and regulation have all contributed to the relay market price to varying degrees.
For companies, how to streamline the supply chain, find alternative materials at a lower cost and improve production efficiency, will be the key to save money and stabilize prices. In the meantime, end-users will need to adjust their purchasing strategies according to market trends in order to cope with the impact of this price volatility.