With 1.25mm pitch and 4.2mm ultra-thin height (one of the thinnest in the industry), Molex Pico-Lock connector increases the PCB layout density to 120 pins/cm2 (traditional connectors only 60 pins), thereby allowing Huawei 5G base stations to reduce the power module size by 42%. Its terminal contact resistance is as low as 20mΩ (IEC 60512 standard requirements ≤50mΩ), and the temperature rise is merely 18°C at 10A continuous current (the average of competitive products is 35°C), which is successfully used in the 48V light mixing system of Tesla Model Y, and the overall weight of the wiring harness is decreased by 15% (1.2kg wire is saved on the bicycle). It is estimated by Global Market Insights that more than 800 million units of molex pico lock will be shipped globally during the year 2023 with a market share of 29% in the micro connector marketplace.
In terms of electrical reliability, the molex pico lock is UL 1977 certified with an operating temperature of -40°C to +105°C (peak 125°C) with a life of over 5,000 hours in 85°C/85% humidity (industry average 3,000 hours). When used with Dell PowerEdge servers, the connector reduces the signal integrity bit error rate from 10⁻⁶ to 10⁻¹² (in PCIe 4.0 channels measurement) and improves the data transfer rate up to 16Gbps (60% faster than the previous generation). With 0.4μm gold plating thickness (ASTM B488 standard) and two-contact structure, insertion and withdrawal life exceeds 50 times (30 times for other products), and contact failure probability due to vibration test (20-2000Hz/30g) in the Bosch ESP system is only 0.002%.
Economical, tool-free crimping of molex pico lock (50N±5% pressure) reduces assembly time from 5 seconds per point to 1.2 seconds, thereby increasing the efficiency of Foxconn’s production line by 320%. The modular design allows 4-12 bit stacking (spacing tolerance ±0.05mm), reducing the cost of cables for Intuitive Surgical’s Da Vinci surgical robots by 37% (a cost saving of $1,850 per unit) for medical device maker Intuitive Surgical. In 2022, the Ningde era battery pack adopts this scheme, the total length of the sampling harness is reduced by 28%, and the BMS signal acquisition accuracy is improved to ±0.1mV (original ±0.5mV).
The metal shielding enclosure (0.3mm tinned steel) of the molex pico lock provides 70dB shielding in the 1-6GHz range, which allows Nokia AirScale base stations to achieve EMC Class B certification. The floating terminal design (±0.6mm alignment tolerance) increases the mounting yield from 98.5% to 99.9%, reducing Apple AirPods Pro production line $2.7M annual repair expense. The Audi A8 Level 3 autonomous driving system enables multi-sensor synchronization via its connectors by timestamp deviation ≤0.8μs (ISO 26262 ASIL-D certification).
Future scalability is fine, molex pico lock 0.5A-3A dynamic current (line diameter 0.08-0.5mm²) is accepted, with support for LV 214/ISO 8092 automotive standards. It is used by the SpaceX Starlink terminal with its radiation-resistant version (total dose 100krad) and has been operating in LEO orbit for 5 years without any failures. According to the “Electronic Engineering” examination in 2024, the connector in the 400G optical module 56Gbps PAM4 signal transmission, the eye image juck is only 0.15UI (industry requirement ≤0.3UI), which provides a stable interconnect solution for AI computing center.