1. The current development status of PCB
The main function of PCB is to connect various electronic components to the preset circuit, which plays the role of relay transmission. PCB is a key electronic interconnection component of electronic products, a support body of electronic components and a carrier of electrical connection. The global PCB market is about 60 billion US dollars, and the growth in the past five years has not exceeded 3%. The output value of PCBs in mainland China is US$21,704 million. Since 2006, it has achieved the world’s first output value for the 11th consecutive year. PCB is a basic component of the electronics industry, and its downstream applications are extremely wide and wide. From basic electronic watches, mobile phones, computers and other 3C products to military weapons, communications equipment, aerospace equipment, etc.
Before 2000, 70% of the global PCB output value was distributed in three regions, including Europe, the United States and Japan. With the accelerated transfer of the global electronics manufacturing industry chain to the Asia-Pacific region, China and Southeast Asia have the fastest growth. The PCB industry concentration is relatively low. According to NTI’s 2016 global PCB ranking data, the top 10 PCB manufacturers have a total revenue of 17.65 billion US dollars, accounting for less than 35% of the total output value. The latest 40 printed circuit board manufacturer rankings were released in the world in 2017. According to the specific classification of PCB, it is expected that by 2021, the proportion of high-tech PCBs such as high-level multilayer boards, flexible boards, HDI boards and packaging substrates will reach 60.58%.
2. The future of the industry
The demand for PCBs from electric vehicles has increased significantly. Driven by electrification and intelligent two-wheel drive, the automotive electronics market has developed rapidly. In recent years, it has maintained an annual growth rate of more than 15%, which has also promoted the upward development of the PCB market.
The demand of the 5G communication industry is coming. China’s 5G construction investment will reach 705 billion yuan, an increase of 56.7% over 4G investment. Compared with 2g-4g communication systems, 5G will make more use of the frequency bands of 3000-5000mhz and millimeter waves. At the same time, the data transmission rate needs to increase more than 10 times. The construction of ultra-high-density small base stations brought by 5G commercialization will bring about a large demand for high-frequency PCBs.
Increased demand for FPC from smartphones In 2016, the global FPC market reached 85.2 billion yuan. FPC is light and flexible. FPC applications include antennas, cameras, display modules and touch modules. Currently, Apple’s global market for FPC purchases accounts for about half of the global market each year, and each iPhone uses about 14-16 FPCS, and about $30 per ASP. Domestic Jingwang Electronics and Hongxin Electronics are also suppliers.
3. Location of investment opportunities
As for the analysis of investment opportunities in the PCB industry, Apple’s new kinetic energy, automotive electronics and 5G high-frequency high-speed three dimensions are the focus of PCB growth investment in 2018 [1]. As the semiconductor industry continues to achieve its goals in terms of autonomous control, domestic PCB packaging substrates have the highest proportion and little technical content. The global PCB industry is further promoted to China, and more excellent PCB companies will emerge in China.