Description of socio-economic impacts

• Author: Clemm, Christan; Löw, Clara; Baron, Yifaat; Moch, Katja; Möller, Martin; Köhler, Andreas R; Gensch, Carl-Otto; Deubzer, Otmar
• Pages: 39-42

RoHS Annex II Dossier, final

Indium phosphide

39

10 DESCRIPTION OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS

10.1 Approach and assumptions

The scope of this assessment requires a review of possible socio-economic impacts related to a

scenario in which indium phosphide as the substances under assessment was to be added to the

list of restricted substances specified in Annex II of RoHS 2. This would restrict the presence of these

substances in EEE to be placed on the market in the future.

In lack of quantitative data in many areas of the assessment, the following sections provide mostly

provide a qualitative estimation as to possible impacts.

10.2 Impact on chemicals industry

As pointed out by IMAT, InP is produced and sold as a wafer by a very small number of companies

worldwide representing at least 90% of the market. Producers of InP wafers are e.g.:116

•AXT, USA/China

•InPACT, France

•JX Nippon Mining and Metals Corporation, Japan

•PamXiam, China

•Sumitomo, Japan

•Vital Materials, China

•Wafer Technology, United Kingdom

InPACT, for example, according to own data the “largest Western producer” of InP substrates, is

dedicated exclusively to InP.117 Due to this specialisation, it can be assumed that a restriction of InP

would have a significant impact on the continued existence of this company and, if applicable, the

entire industry.

10.3 Impact on EEE producers

It is understood that InP is used as an enabling material in products with high value creation, such

as global telecommunication networks (see section 3.2 for more details).

As pointed out by MMAT, European companies contribute to a global market volume of 25 billion

Euros in the field of optical networking equipment and components, which supports a nearly 3 trillion

Euros global industry in telecommunications services.118

According to SMART Photonics, the market for InP transceivers alone is estimated to be close to

10 billion Euros p.a., of which “a significant part” is produced in Europe.119 Concerning InP based

high-speed and optoelectronic hardware, IMAT estimates the market share of European

manufactures to reach approximately 25% of the world market.120

116 Op. cit. IMAT (2018)

117 See http://www.inpactsemicon.com/companyoverview.php, last viewed 26.02.2020

118 Op. cit. MMAT (2018)

119 Op. cit. Smart Photonics (2018)

120 Op. cit. IMAT (2018)