PCB Technical - PCB leader welcomes growth opportunities

The general trend of eastward shifting of industries has led the mainland to thrive. The focus of the PCB industry is continuously shifting to the Asian region, and the production capacity of the Asian region is further shifted to the mainland, forming a new industrial pattern. With the continuous transfer of production capacity, mainland China has become the region with the highest PCB production capacity in the world. According to Prismark's estimates, China's PCB output value will reach 28.972 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, accounting for more than 50% of the global output value.

PCB industry in-depth report: industry transfer is accelerating, PCB leaders welcome growth opportunities

Data centers and other applications increase HDI requirements, and FPC has a vast future. Data centers are developing toward high-speed, large-capacity, cloud computing, and high-performance characteristics,

and construction demand has surged, among which the demand for servers will also increase the overall demand for HDI. The popularity of mobile electronic products such as smartphones will also drive up the demand for FPC boards. In the trend of smart, light and thin mobile electronic products, FPC's advantages such as light weight, thin thickness, and bending resistance will facilitate its wide application. The demand for FPC in the display module, touch module, fingerprint recognition module, side button, power button and other sectors of smart phones is showing an increasing trend.

"Raw material price increase + environmental protection inspection" increased concentration, leading manufacturers to take advantage of the opportunity. The rising prices of raw materials such as copper foil, epoxy resin, and ink in the upstream of the industry transmit cost pressures to PCB manufacturers. At the same time, the central government vigorously conducts environmental protection inspections, implements environmental protection policies, cracks down on chaotic small manufacturers, and exerts cost pressure. Against the background of rising raw material prices and stricter environmental inspections, the PCB industry reshuffle has brought increased concentration. Small manufacturers have weak bargaining power in the downstream and it is difficult to digest upstream price increases. Small and medium-sized PCB companies will withdraw due to the continuous narrowing of profit margins. In this round of PCB industry reshuffle, leading companies have technical and financial advantages and are expected to pass Expansion of production capacity, mergers and acquisitions, product upgrades and other methods to achieve scale expansion, relying on its efficient production process, excellent cost control foothold, directly benefit from the increase in industry concentration. The industry is expected to return to rationality, and the industry chain will continue to develop in a healthy manner.

New applications promote the growth of the industry, and the 5G era is approaching. Newly built 5G communication base stations have a large demand for high-frequency circuit boards: Compared with the number of million-level base stations in the 4G era, the scale of base stations in the 5G era is expected to exceed 10 million. Compared with traditional products, high-frequency and high-speed boards that meet 5G requirements have wider technical barriers and higher gross profit margins.

The general trend of automotive electronics has driven the rapid growth of automotive PCBs. With the deepening of automotive electronics, the demand area for automotive PCBs will gradually increase. Compared with traditional vehicles, new energy vehicles have higher requirements for the degree of electronization. The cost of electronic devices in traditional high-end cars accounts for about 25%, and in new energy vehicles it reaches 45%-65%. Among them, BMS will become a new growth point for automotive PCBs, and high-frequency PCBs equipped with millimeter-wave radars pose a large amount of rigidity requirements.