PCB Technical - PCB industry layout application market

As industry needs continue to change, PCB application requirements have also changed, especially electronic products are evolving toward lighter, thinner, shorter and smaller electronic products. Electronic circuit carrier boards for terminal bulk applications are getting smaller and smaller, replaced by smarter mobile devices with higher precision., PCB demand is also moving towards a more advanced and diverse direction...

The performance of the PCB industry in 2013 was affected by the performance of the terminal product market. The market demand for tablet computers and smartphones and mobile devices was strong. Even though PC manufacturers faced continued decline in shipments, NB makers competed in the second half of 2013 to push transformable tablet computer products to grab tablets. The computer market has effectively boosted the sales of conventional NB equipment with sluggish sales.

Wearable devices are popular and demand for soft board applications increases

However, the bulk of the existing PCB application market is still dominated by computers and communication products. Its market share in the global mainframe computer and communication industry is not good, which directly impacts PCB consumption and revenue, while the growth of information communication products slows down and the overall market PCB demand Declining, the sustainable development of the PCB industry has become an important key to urgent breakthroughs. Examining the current development trend of electronic products in the market, it will be found that information and communication products continue to develop in the direction of light weight and thinning. In addition to the advancement of intelligent electronic terminal equipment, It also continues to integrate towards the extreme miniaturization of wearable applications.

2013 can be said to be a year in which the concept of wearable devices is brewing and colliding. Wearable devices from smart bracelets, smart glasses and even smart watches have sprung up. Related products have sprung up from the masses, new industries, or breakthroughs. In the past, from the perspective of information and communications manufacturers, sports or non-IT companies horizontally integrated new concept products. After several years of collisions between concepts and practicality, the original concept products gradually matured in wearable applications in 2014 and became a push An important thrust for the growth of the information and communication products industry.

Highly miniature integration of smart terminals

Looking at the PCB application trends in the market in 2014, due to the shrinking usage of desktop computers and notebook computers in the market, the terminal sales are more impressive in the smartphone and tablet computer markets, while the usage of PCBs continues to decrease due to different product styles, and is becoming thinner. The integration of high-density, high-density, and multi-layer boards, and because terminal smart devices continue to shrink product sizes, the demand for flexible circuit boards is also increasing.

In addition, tablet computers and smart phones use embedded processor platforms, and continue to develop in the direction of high SoC integration. General-purpose processors integrate core application units such as memory, storage components, and communication functions, which also greatly reduces the demand for electronic circuit carrier boards. After the miniaturization of electronic circuits, it is replaced by the continuous increase in the amount of flexible circuit boards for the thinning and light-weight requirements of terminal products.

Wearable devices will explode in 2014 and demand for related products can be expected

The same situation also appeared in 2014 when there was a violent upsurge of wearable application products. Take smart bracelet products as an example. In the design of smart bracelet products, it is mainly used to constantly record the wearer’s all-day dynamics. Through the MCU and MEMS sensor to capture the user’s all-day activity record, the hardware architecture of the wearable product is integrated by the MCU (lower) with the MEMS sensor, and the low-power Bluetooth wireless communication and battery module are added at the same time. The electronic circuit layout is relatively simple. In order to integrate with the design of wearable accessories or sports applications, flexible circuit boards with high flexibility are the first choice for wearable applications. The same situation also appears in Google Glass smart glasses products developed by Google. Due to the relative available space configuration of the products Small and small, using integrated circuit packaging process to integrate electronic circuits, with flexible circuit boards to integrate connectors, touch modules or key sensors, has become a common design direction for mainstream wearable applications.

Different from the increasingly shrinking PCB usage of desktop computers and notebook computers, the usage of special PCBs is also increasing, and related applications should not be underestimated. The consumption of ECUs and the demand for electronic electrical equipment continue to increase, which not only drives the positive development of the automotive electronics market, but also increases the demand for the automotive PCB market. It is also an LED lighting application under the energy-saving concept. The increase in market demand for PCBs has also increased the application requirements for PCB circuit carrier boards. The PCB consumption for special needs in automotive electronics and LED lighting applications has also driven the momentum of the PCB market, and the PCB consumption has been developed in the direction of miniaturization in information and communication products. Under the condition of less and less, it will slightly make up for the slowdown of PC/NB market demand.

Focus on future products, create high value-added applications

However, in the long-term view of the PCB market, the demand for tablet computers, smart phones or wearable applications to boost market usage is limited. Except for the high integration of electronic circuits and the trend of miniaturized product configuration in related products, the more PCBs are used. Although the number of flexible circuit boards is driven by the amount of high-efficiency flexible circuit boards, it does not help much in the demand for conventional PCBs. The huge growth of the PCB market should not have a big chance. Instead, it should focus on future products and new applications to create high value-added application opportunities. Larger.

Not only wearable applications, high-precision multi-layer boards driven by advanced smart handheld devices, or integrated integrated circuit packaging solutions are worth looking forward to. The demand for flexible circuit boards driven by related miniaturized information and communication equipment is increasing, and derivatives such as medical Although the electronic and innovative applications are not widely used in the market, related special applications have higher gold content and higher added value than general PCBs or flexible circuit boards. This is also a direction that PCB industry can continue to pay attention to in the future.

In addition, observing the current situation of the mainland market, branded smartphones continue to show high growth. According to a research by the market research agency IDC, it is estimated that the shipment of mainland smartphones will reach 360 million in 2013, and it is estimated that shipments in 2014 will continue to grow at a high rate. With positive growth, the world’s major communication brands are still actively investing in the development and production of new electronic products. At present, emerging application markets such as wearable devices, automotive electronics, and medical electronics have become the active layout targets of various PCB manufacturers.