Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is a complicated copper wire between the parts and the parts. After careful planning, it is etched on a Board to provide the main supporting body for the installation and interconnection of electronic components. It is the indispensable basic part of all electronic products, also known as the “mother of electronic industry”. The upstream of PCB industry is the supplier of materials such as glass fiber, copper foil and resin, the middle reaches is the manufacturer of copper foil substrate and printed circuit board, and the downstream is the supplier of various electronic products.
I. the upstream and upstream products include insulating paper, glass mat, glass fiber yarn, glass fiber cloth, conductive materials such as oxygen free copper ball, electrolytic copper foil, calendering copper foil, and adhesive materials such as phenolic resin, brominated epoxy resin, polyimide (PI) resin and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) resin.
Taiwan has a high self-sufficiency rate in reinforcing materials and conductive materials, among which South Asia plastics and changchun are the main suppliers of copper foil. In the glass fiber cloth, South Asia, Taiwan glass as the leading manufacturer. At present, some adhesive materials, such as PI resin, are imported from foreign countries. PI resin is mainly used in soft board and covering film. Its main advantages include high temperature resistance, abrasion resistance and electrical insulation. Due to its properties of up to 380 degrees C, polyimide can withstand the high Temperature process of most electronic products. Polyimide films have a wide range of electronic applications. FPC is the largest market. Applications include military, automobile, computer, notebook computer, camera and communication
The main suppliers of electrolytic copper foil, rolled copper foil and other conductive materials are mainly from Japan and the United States due to high entry barriers in resources (copper raw materials) and technologies (rolling and surface treatment technologies, etc.). The main producers include Nippon Mining, Fukuda, Hitachi Cable, Microhard, and Olin brass.
The middle reaches copper foil substrate is the key base material for the production of printed circuit board. The manufacturing process is composed of solvents, hardeners, promoters and resins, etc. After that, the film was tested and cut and overlapped, and copper foil was added. After hot pressing, cutting, inspection and cutting, copper foil substrate was finally made. According to the properties of its base material, copper foil base plate can be divided into four types: paper base plate, composite base plate, glass fiber epoxy base plate and soft base plate.
There are many manufacturers of soft and hard copper foil substrate, including taihong, changchun, lianmao, etc. In terms of low-grade products, paper base plates and composite base plates are mostly adopted. However, due to the continuous decline in market demand and price, some manufacturers have withdrawn one after another.
Printed circuit board is mainly divided into rigid PCB and flexible printed circuit boards and IC plate, three kinds of rigid printed circuit boards used in TV, video machines, telephones, fax machines, PC, laptop computers, etc., flexible printed circuit board used in mobile phones, digital cameras, laptops, TFT LCD panel, touch panel, such as IC loading board is used in the logic chip, chip set, graphics chip, DRAM and flash memory, etc.
Downstream printed circuit boards can be used in a wide range of electronic products, including information, communications and consumer products such as television sets, video recorders, computer peripherals, fax machines, notebook computers, tablets, smart handheld devices, communications network devices, and intelligent wearable devices.
Thanks to the increasing adoption of high-tech products and the increasing importance of soft substrate, various laws and regulations have been made to limit the harmful substances contained in electronic products in response to the rising environmental awareness of various countries. Therefore, manufacturers have continued to develop halogen-free and lead-free environmental substrates in recent years. In addition, Any layer high density connection board (Any layer HDI) can reduce the size of the product by nearly 40%, and the advantage of thinness enables it to be applied to Apple iPhone products. However, due to the high manufacturing difficulty and high manufacturing cost, the application is relatively unpopular at present. However, under the trend of thin end device product, the future growth prospect of arbitrary high-density connection board can be expected.
Due to the diversification of smart devices and the continuous optimization of technology, the life cycle of terminal information system products has been extended, and the demand for traditional PC has been declining year by year. Global notebook and desktop PC shipments are expected to shrink from an annual recession starting at the end of 2017 in anticipation of a three-year boom in machine replacements, but it is not expected to show positive growth. Fortunately, in terms of smartphone shipment performance, the estimated growth rate of shipments in 2018 is still about 3.3 percent. The increased penetration of emerging applications such as unmanned vehicles, VR/AR devices, smart speakers, on-board computers/devices will help support the demand for circuit boards. Overall, it is estimated that the global circuit board market grew slightly by about 2 percent in 2017, with an overall size of about $552.91 million. Looking ahead to 2018, it is estimated that the global circuit board market will grow slightly in anticipation of the launch of the PC commercial replacement wave and the gradual popularization of emerging products such as drones, robots and smart speakers.
Taiwan’s PCB industry is the world’s largest, accounting for about 30% of the market, while Japan and South Korea rank second and third respectively. In recent years, PCB manufacturers in mainland China, relying on government subsidies and the advantage of low cost of materials, actively compete for the market of low-grade products, and their market share has increased to about 16.9%, which is close to that of South Korea. It is estimated that the growth rate of Taiwan’s industrial output will decline slightly by 2.94 percent in 2017, with an output value of about $17.49 billion. Looking forward to 2018, thanks to the increased market acceptance of emerging applications such as electric vehicles, industrial Internet of things and smart speakers, and the continuous active development of niche products by Taiwanese manufacturers, the output growth rate is expected to be flat.