What is the market prospect of self-locking tuning screws for 5G filters?
The market prospect of self-locking tuning screws for 5G filters is generally good. The core is driven by four factors: the expansion of 5G base stations, the deployment of Massive MIMO and millimeter waves, the iteration of existing equipment and the substitution of domestic products. At the same time, it faces the challenges of technical threshold and price competition, as follows:
I. Core drivers
The deepening of 5G network and the expansion of base stations continue to drive demand. The global 5G base station construction has entered the stage of "deep coverage+capacity upgrade". More than 3.7 million 5G base stations have been built in China (data at the end of 2025), and the filter consumption of a single base station has increased from 4–8 channels to 32–64 channels with the deployment of Massive MIMO, driving the demand for tuning screws to increase simultaneously; Millimeter-wave base stations (24GHz/28GHz) require higher RF accuracy, which further improves the permeability of high-end self-locking screws.
Maintenance and iterative release increment of existing equipment In the early stage, the filter of 5G base station entered a 2-3-year maintenance cycle, and the tuning screw was easy to wear and loosen due to frequent debugging, so it needed to be replaced regularly. At the same time, operators optimize the RF performance of old equipment to promote the replacement demand of self-locking tuning screws, and the annual replacement rate is expected to reach 15%–20%.
The high-end filter market was once monopolized by American and Japanese enterprises. In recent years, domestic filter manufacturers (such as Dafu Technology and Sega Technology) have risen rapidly, driving the localization demand of upstream self-locking tuning screws. Domestic enterprises can reduce the cost by 30%-40% through process optimization such as cold heading and wire rolling, while ensuring the accuracy of ±0.02mm and self-locking performance, and gradually seize the global market share.
Expansion of emerging scenes, opening up long-term growth space Except for Hong Jizhan, the demand for miniaturization and high-precision filters in 5G small base stations, edge computing nodes, satellite Internet ground stations and other scenes has surged, and the self-locking tuning screws have been promoted to miniaturization (diameter < 2mm) and low loss (silver/gold plating); In addition, the application in the fields of vehicle-mounted 5G communication and industrial Internet of Things terminals further broadens the market boundary.
Second, the market characteristics and competition pattern
Dimension specific content
The technical threshold should meet the requirements of RF accuracy (coaxiality ≤0.03mm), self-locking torque stability (5%), high frequency and low loss (silver plating 5–15 μ m), etc. The head enterprise holds the patent of staggered/slotted self-locking structure.
The top five manufacturers in the world (such as Kyocera, Fanor, USA) account for about 30% of the market concentration, and domestic companies such as Suzhou Gushu and HSBC Precision have risen rapidly with their cost-effective advantages.
Price Trend The unit price of high-end products (millimeter wave/vehicle) is 10–30 yuan, and the unit price of low-end products (Hong Jizhan) is 2–5 yuan. After localization, the price shows a downward trend, but the technology premium still exists.
Regional distribution Asia (China, South Korea) is the largest consumer market (accounting for 60%), Europe and North America focus on high-end markets, and emerging markets such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia are growing rapidly.
Third, challenges and coping strategies
Major challenges
Technical barriers: high-precision machining and RF performance matching need long-term process accumulation, and it is difficult for small and medium-sized manufacturers to break through quickly;
Price competition: the homogenization of the low-end market is serious, and the price war leads to profit compression;
Supply chain fluctuation: the price of raw materials such as copper and silver rises, which affects cost control.
coping strategy
Technological innovation: develop an integrated self-locking structure (such as head grooving+staggered thread) to enhance product differentiation;
Capacity upgrade: introduce automatic production line (robot loading and unloading, full inspection of imager) to improve efficiency and reduce defective rate;
Material optimization: adopt beryllium bronze, titanium alloy and other lightweight materials to meet the requirements of miniaturized filters.
Fourth, the prospect forecast
Short-term (1-2 years): the market scale will maintain a growth rate of 20%-25%, the localization rate will increase from the current 60% to 80%, and the price will gradually stabilize;
Mid-term (3-5 years): Millimeter wave and in-vehicle 5G applications broke out, the proportion of high-end products increased, and the market scale exceeded 1 billion yuan;
Long-term (more than 5 years): With the pre-research and deployment of 6G network, tuning screws are developing in the direction of intelligence (integrated sensor monitoring tightness), opening up new growth space.
V. Summary
The self-locking tuning screw of 5G filter has a broad market prospect and clear core growth logic, which is suitable for enterprise layout with high-precision machining capability and RF performance matching experience. It is suggested that enterprises should focus on the high-end market, build competition barriers through technological innovation and capacity upgrading, and at the same time expand emerging scenarios to seize the opportunities of domestic substitution and global market expansion.
