PCB News - Grasp the new opportunities of PCB copper clad laminates

Key points of the report The new 5G demand brings new opportunities in the PCB industry. In the 4G era, PCBs are mainly used in base station BBUs (base station backplanes, base station single boards) and RRUs hung under antennas. Due to their small size, PCB demand is relatively small. In the 5G era, base station antennas evolve from passive to active. RRUs and antennas are merged into active antenna units (AAU) that support large-scale antennas, and there are higher requirements for antenna integration. FPGA chips, optical modules, radio frequency components and power supply systems will be integrated in a PCB board that supports high-speed and high-frequency. The 5G antenna radio frequency structural changes superimposed on the substantial increase in the number of 5G base stations, bringing new opportunities for communication PCBs.

The 5G PCB market space is quantitatively measured. The high-frequency and high-speed PCB space is huge. Let’s take a 5G macro base station BBU connected to 3 AAUs as an example. The value of medium and high frequency CCL is about 2430 yuan per station, which is about 11.5 times that of 4G. In addition, according to the 10% annual price reduction of PCB and high-frequency CCL, the market space is calculated: The 5G base station PCB market space is about 88.7 billion yuan, which is 2.2 times more flexible than 4G. The high-frequency CCL market space is about 9.53 billion yuan. It is 7.5 times more flexible than 4G.

High-frequency and high-speed PCB technology has high technical barriers, and the domestically produced replacement space is huge. High-frequency and high-speed PCBs place higher requirements on materials, requiring substrates with low dielectric constant and low loss factor, copper foil with smaller surface roughness, and low loss factor Solder mask ink. Due to high technical barriers, high-frequency and high-speed copper clad laminates are mainly monopolized by overseas manufacturers such as Rogers and Yalong, accounting for more than 90% of the high-frequency board market share. Rogers has an exclusive market share of more than 40%. There is huge room for domestic substitution. Manufacturers who take the lead in the layout of the chain are expected to benefit.

Investment advice As the construction of 5G base stations is fully launched in 2019, the high-frequency and high-speed PCB market space is expected to open up at an accelerated pace.

It is recommended to focus on the leading domestic communication PCB companies Shennan Circuit, Shanghai Electric Co., Ltd. (002463) and Dongshan Precision (002384), which have already cooperated with mainstream communication equipment manufacturers. In addition, because high-frequency and high-speed PCBs place higher requirements on materials, they need substrates with low dielectric constant and low loss factor, copper foil with smaller surface roughness, and solder mask inks with low loss factor. It is recommended to focus on upstream raw materials in the industry Industry chain related manufacturers that have made positive progress in the field and have the ability to replace high-frequency and high-speed CCL domestically.