Shunt Resistor Market By Type (Surface-Mount, Through-Hole, Precision Custom); By Material (Manganin, Constantan, Copper-Manganese, Nickel-Chromium); By End Use (Automotive, Industrial Automation, Consumer Electronics, Energy & Utilities, Aerospace & Medical); By Geography, Segment Revenue Estimation, Forecast, 2026–2032

How Large Is the Shunt Resistor Market and What Is Driving Its Expansion? – (Updated On: 28-Aug-2026)

The Global Shunt Resistor Market was valued at USD 872.5 million in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 1.36 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of approximately 6.5% during 2026-2032, according to Strategic Market Research.

 

A shunt resistor is a precision, very-low-resistance component inserted in a current path so that the small voltage drop across it can be measured and translated into an accurate current reading. It is used in battery management systems, traction inverters, chargers, industrial drives, power supplies, energy-storage systems, meters, appliances and other circuits where current feedback is needed for protection, efficiency control or energy measurement. The commercial market covered here includes discrete current-sensing/shunt resistors and excludes current-sense ICs and non-resistive Hall, fluxgate and magnetoresistive sensors.

 

The market is benefiting from a measurable increase in high-current electronic systems. The International Energy Agency reported that global electric-car sales reached about 21 million units in 2025, with one in four new cars sold being electric. The IEA also reported 108 GW of new battery-storage capacity in 2025, up 40% year over year, with around 80% of additions at utility scale. Industrial automation adds a third demand pool: the International Federation of Robotics recorded 542,000 industrial robot installations in 2024, while Asia represented 74% of deployments. These markets require repeated current measurement across battery packs, DC-DC converters, inverters, motor drives and power-distribution stages, creating a direct design-in opportunity for low-ohmic, low-TCR and thermally stable shunts. [1][2][3]

 

What Are the Key Report Takeaways?

Type / Format

• Surface-mount shunts held 58% of 2025 revenue, equivalent to USD 506.05 million, and are projected to grow at 6.7%. They lead because automated PCB assembly, compact packages and proximity to power semiconductors favor chip and metal-strip designs.

• Through-hole and leaded shunts represented 27%, or USD 235.58 million, and are projected to grow at 5.3%. They remain relevant in serviceable power equipment and designs requiring physical separation or robust leaded mounting.

• External, busbar-mounted and application-specific custom shunts accounted for 15%, or USD 130.88 million, and are forecast to grow fastest at 8.2%, supported by battery packs, high-current converters and equipment where Kelvin connections, mechanical geometry and heat flow must be engineered together.

Material

• Manganin led with 42% share, or USD 366.45 million, and is projected to grow at 6.2%, supported by its low temperature coefficient and low thermoelectric voltage versus copper.

• Constantan accounted for 25%, or USD 218.13 million, with a 5.9% CAGR, retaining a role in stable resistance applications where manufacturability and predictable electrical behavior are important.

• Other copper-manganese alloys, explicitly excluding Manganin, represented 20%, or USD 174.50 million, and are projected to grow fastest at 7.6% as suppliers engineer Cu-Mn systems for lower resistance and improved thermal behavior.

• Nickel-chromium and related high-resistivity alloys held 13%, or USD 113.43 million, and are projected to grow at 7.2%, concentrated in specialized precision, industrial and higher-temperature applications.

End Use

• Automotive held 34% of 2025 revenue, or USD 296.65 million, and is projected to grow at 7.4%, the fastest end-use rate.

• Industrial automation represented 26%, or USD 226.85 million, with a 6.5% CAGR.

• Consumer electronics accounted for 18%, or USD 157.05 million, and is forecast to grow at 4.9%.

• Energy & utilities held 14%, or USD 122.15 million, and are projected to grow at 6.9%.

• • Aerospace & medical applications represented 8%, or USD 69.80 million, and are forecast to grow at 5.9%.

 

Why Are Higher Currents Changing Shunt Resistor Design?

The main competitive shift is not simply toward more resistors, but toward shunts that can measure higher current with less insertion loss, less self-heating and lower measurement drift. Because resistor loss increases with current squared, very-low resistance becomes increasingly valuable as battery, inverter and charging currents rise. Suppliers are consequently competing on micro-ohm and low-milliohm values, TCR, thermal EMF, pulse capability, package heat dissipation, Kelvin sensing and long-term stability.

Recent product activity makes the direction clear. In March 2025, Vishay introduced its WSBE Power Metal Strip shunts with resistance values down to 15 micro-ohms, power ratings up to 50 W and TCR down to +/-10 ppm/°C. The products are AEC-Q200 qualified and target automotive, energy, industrial and space applications. In August 2026, Bourns expanded its CSS2H-5930 and CSI2H-5930 series with 0.1 mOhm, 15 W models using electron-beam-welded metal-strip construction; Bourns states that the design combines low inductance and low thermal EMF, while an automotive-grade CSS2H model is AEC-Q200 compliant. [5][6]

Miniaturization is advancing at the same time. ROHM launched the UCR10C series in January 2026 for 2012-size shunt resistors, offering 1.0 W and 1.25 W ratings across 10 mOhm to 100 mOhm. ROHM uses a copper-based resistive element on an alumina substrate and reports low TCR from 0 to +60 ppm/°C. More important commercially, ROHM is pairing resistor products with shunt-based current-sensing reference designs covering 12 V, 24 V and 48 V systems and currents from 20 A to 100 A, including thermal evaluation data. This reduces engineering effort for customers and shows why design support is becoming a differentiator alongside component specifications. [7][8]

 

Which Product Formats and Materials Are Creating the Most Commercial Value?

Surface-mount products remain the volume center of the market because they fit automated assembly and dense power-electronics layouts. The segment is broad, spanning thick-film, metal-plate, metal-strip, foil, wide-terminal and four-terminal devices. Panasonic, for example, maintains current-sensing chip lines from compact thick-film formats to high-power wide-terminal and metal-plate types, while Vishay's Power Metal Strip portfolio spans conventional surface-mount products, four-terminal designs and dedicated battery shunts. The commercial opportunity therefore shifts upward from commodity low-ohmic chips toward packages that solve heat, solder-joint reliability and measurement-error constraints. [15][18]

External and busbar shunts are a smaller but strategically faster-growing portion of the market. These products become relevant when current rises beyond the practical thermal envelope of standard PCB packages or when the current path itself becomes part of the sensing structure. Bourns' current-sense portfolio, for example, includes busbar-mounted shunts ranging from very low micro-ohmic values to power ratings in the hundreds of watts. Custom geometry, terminal placement and four-wire/Kelvin connections can create higher design-in value and make supplier replacement more difficult once a platform is qualified. [16]

Material selection is likewise a performance decision rather than a simple raw-material choice. Isabellenhütte identifies MANGANIN as a copper-manganese-nickel alloy developed for current and voltage measurement and emphasizes its very low TCR and low thermoelectric EMF. The company also offers other Cu-Mn systems such as ZERANIN and ISA 13, supporting the distinction between Manganin and other copper-manganese alloys. Constantan, commonly represented by CuNi44/Cuprothal 49, offers negligible or very low temperature sensitivity together with ductility, weldability and corrosion resistance, but its commercial role is broader than shunt resistors alone. For this reason, the report treats 'other Cu-Mn alloys' as a separate category only when Manganin is explicitly excluded. [13][14]

 

Which End Uses Will Generate the Strongest Demand Through 2032?

Automotive is the largest and fastest-growing end use because electrification increases both the number of sensing points and the electrical stress placed on them. Battery packs, battery disconnect units, traction inverters, DC-DC converters, onboard chargers, electric power steering and auxiliary motor systems all require current feedback. With about 21 million electric cars sold in 2025, the installed base of high-current electronic platforms continues to expand. Automotive also raises qualification barriers: suppliers must combine low resistance and low drift with temperature cycling, vibration, solder-joint integrity and automotive-grade reliability. [1][9]

Industrial automation provides a more diversified revenue base. Servo drives, variable-frequency drives, robotics, industrial power supplies, welding systems and power-conversion equipment need current feedback for torque control, overload protection and efficiency management. IFR data show 542,000 industrial robots were installed globally in 2024, and preliminary 2026 IFR data indicate that U.S. installations alone rose 11% to about 38,000 units in 2025. This supports steady shunt demand even when automotive cycles soften, because factory automation purchases span electronics, machinery, food, logistics and other industries. [3][4]

Energy & utilities are becoming increasingly important as battery-storage systems move to higher power and wider deployment. The IEA's 108 GW of new battery storage in 2025, including roughly four-fifths utility scale, increases the number of battery racks, power-conversion systems, protection circuits and metering points that require accurate current measurement. Data-centre backup power is another adjacent opportunity: the IEA reported battery-based UPS additions rising 30% to 45 GW in 2025. Consumer electronics remains larger by unit volume but slower by revenue growth because aggressive pricing, smaller power budgets and integration can limit the value captured by discrete shunts. [2]

 

Which Standards and Regional Factors Will Shape Supplier Qualification?

Shunt resistors do not have a single dedicated global regulation, but qualification standards and material-compliance rules strongly affect supplier access. AEC-Q200 Rev. E is the Automotive Electronics Council's base stress-test qualification standard for passive components and is widely referenced for automotive current-sense resistors. IEC 60115-8:2023 governs fixed surface-mount resistors and added provisions for transverse or wide-terminal styles while revising recommended test boards for higher rated dissipation. These changes are directly relevant to the industry's move toward smaller packages carrying more power. [9][10]

RoHS and REACH also influence global sourcing. The EU RoHS Directive currently restricts ten hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. REACH applies broadly to substances used in and supplied through articles and places risk-management obligations on companies operating in the EU supply chain. Large OEMs frequently standardize compliant components across international platforms, making documentation, traceability and qualification part of the commercial selling proposition rather than an afterthought. [11][12]

Asia Pacific is estimated by SMR to hold 46% of the market in 2025, equivalent to USD 401.35 million, and is projected to grow at 7.0%. The region combines the largest EV market with the dominant electronics and industrial-automation manufacturing base. China's electric cars accounted for nearly 55% of new-car sales in 2025, and Asia received 74% of global industrial-robot installations in 2024. North America is estimated at 25% share, or USD 218.13 million, with a 6.4% CAGR, supported by automotive electronics, industrial automation, data centres and battery storage. Europe represents an estimated 21%, or USD 183.23 million, with a 5.8% CAGR; European electric-car sales rose more than 30% in 2025 and reached 28% of new-car sales. Latin America, the Middle East and Africa collectively represent the remaining 8%, or USD 69.80 million, and are projected to grow at 6.4%, led by grid investment, renewable integration, industrial drives and imported electrified equipment. [1][2][3]

 

How Are Major Suppliers Competing and What Could Limit the Forecast?

Competition is fragmented between large passive-component manufacturers and specialized precision-resistor companies. Vishay has one of the broadest current-sensing portfolios, with Power Metal Strip, battery shunt, metal-plate and four-terminal products. Bourns competes across thick-film, metal-foil, metal-strip, electron-beam-welded and busbar-mounted shunts. ROHM covers ultra-low-ohmic metal-plate, low-ohmic, wide-terminal and compact sintered-metal families through PSR, GMR, PMR, PML, UCR/UCRC and LTR/LTRL lines. Panasonic competes strongly in current-sensing chip resistors, while TT Electronics, KOA Speer, Susumu, Stackpole Electronics, Ohmite, Caddock and Isabellenhütte add specialist capabilities in metal elements, Kelvin sensing, high-power formats, precision materials and custom engineering. [15][16][17][18][19]

The most defensible competitive advantage is therefore not scale alone. Suppliers that can offer very low resistance, low TCR, reliable thermal paths, multiple terminal architectures, automotive qualification and application engineering can win longer-lived design positions. The August 2026 Bourns launch and ROHM's reference-design strategy show that vendors are increasingly selling a validated current-measurement solution rather than a bare resistor specification.

The largest forecast risk is substitution in applications where galvanic isolation, very low insertion loss or extreme current makes resistive sensing less attractive. Hall-effect, fluxgate and magnetoresistive sensors can measure current without placing a resistive element directly in the main current path, and integrated current-sense ICs can reduce the value attributed to discrete components in lower-power designs. Shunts remain compelling where cost, linearity, bandwidth and direct measurement are priorities, but their ability to capture the full electrification opportunity will depend on continued progress in thermal management, package density, TCR, connection resistance and system-level accuracy.

Strategic Market Research therefore expects the Shunt Resistor Market to remain a moderate-growth but increasingly specification-intensive component market through 2032. Revenue expansion will be driven less by commodity resistor volume and more by high-current automotive, industrial and storage platforms that place measurable value on low-loss sensing, qualification and thermal stability. Suppliers positioned across both high-volume SMT products and higher-value Kelvin, welded, busbar and custom shunts should be best placed to capture the market's shift toward precision energy management.

 

Methodology and Data Interpretation

SMR estimate note: The 2025 market size, 2032 forecast, market shares, segment values and segment CAGRs are Strategic Market Research analytical estimates. External sources listed below are used to validate demand conditions, product developments, technical characteristics, standards and regional industry activity; they are not presented as third-party market-size or market-share sources. Segment CAGRs were reconciled so their weighted 2032 outcomes remain consistent with the approximately USD 1.36 billion global forecast.

 

Report Coverage Table

Report Attribute	Details
Forecast Period	2026 – 2032
Market Size Value in 2025	USD 872.5 Million
Revenue Forecast in 2032	USD 1.36 Billion
Overall Growth Rate	CAGR of 6.4% (2026 – 2032)
Base Year for Estimation	2025
Historical Data	2019 – 2024
Unit	USD Million, CAGR (2026 – 2032)
Segmentation	By Type, By Material, By End Use, By Geography
By Type	Surface-Mount, Through-Hole, Precision Custom
By Material	Manganin, Constantan, Copper-Manganese, Nickel-Chromium
By End Use	Automotive, Industrial Automation, Consumer Electronics, Energy & Utilities, Aerospace & Medical
By Region	North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa
Country Scope	U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa
Market Drivers	Rising use of high-accuracy current sensing in electric and hybrid vehicles; growing deployment of power electronics and automated industrial equipment; increasing demand for precise energy monitoring in battery systems, renewable energy infrastructure, and consumer electronics; greater need for compact low-resistance components in high-current applications
Customization Option	Available upon request