How About The Development Status Of The Domestic PCB Market

(1) Mainland China has become the region with the fastest growth in global PCB output value and high-end product HDI

The PCB industry is widely distributed around the world. Developed countries in Europe and the United States started early, developed and made full use of advanced technology and equipment, so the PCB industry has developed by leaps and bounds. Since the late 1990s, Asia, especially China, has continuously introduced foreign advanced technology and equipment with its advantages in labor, resources, policies, and industrial agglomeration, and has become the region with the fastest growth in PCB output value in the world. Asia, especially mainland China, is a new pattern of manufacturing centers.

From the perspective of the development path of the PCB industry, the global PCB industry has experienced three industrial transfer processes in recent years. The first transfer was from Europe and the United States to Japan, the second was from Japan to South Korea and Taiwan, and the third was from South Korea and Taiwan to mainland China.

(2) The PCB product structure in mainland China is continuously optimized, and the HDI market has a strong development momentum

According to public information, among the many PCB products in mainland China in 2020, multi-layer boards are the products with the largest output value, accounting for 44.86% of the output value. The market share of HDI board and flexible board increased rapidly, and the output value accounted for 17.34% and 17.37% respectively. As the PCB application market develops in the direction of intelligence, thinness and high precision, the proportion of high-tech, high-value-added HDI boards, flexible boards and packaging substrates in the PCB industry will further increase, and the development of downstream demand will continue to advance The optimization of the PCB market structure promotes its rapid update and development.

5G infrastructure construction started rapidly in 2019, and by the end of 2019, China had built more than 100,000 5G base stations. In the 5G era, a series of downstream industries such as smartphone upgrades, the rise of the Internet of Things, and the increase in the complexity of automotive electronics will take up more space for radio frequency circuits in 5G mobile phones, and mobile phone motherboards and other components will be compressed to more space. High-density, smaller form factor completes the package, pushing HDIs to become thinner, smaller, and more complex. In addition to smartphones, other consumer electronics and IoT applications will also drive the rapid increase in demand for high-end HDI and RF boards.

The current trend of overall consumer electronics is to develop in the direction of high intelligence, thinness and portability, and this development trend has continuously increased the requirements for PCB products in consumer electronics. According to public information, the largest PCB product in mobile terminals is HDI board, which accounts for more than 40%. At present, my country is vigorously promoting consumer electronic products such as 5G mobile phones and computers. It is foreseeable that high-end HDI products in the future will rapidly increase. The trend of higher integration, lighter weight and more space saving of components in mobile terminals will further promote the upgrade and development of HDI boards and RF boards.

(3) The PCB downstream application market in mainland China is widely distributed, generating a continuous impetus

The development of downstream industries is the driving force for the growth of the PCB industry. At present, the PCB downstream application market in mainland China mainly includes communication, consumer electronics, computers, network equipment, industrial control, medical, automotive electronics, aerospace and other fields. As one of the branches with the strongest development momentum in the PCB market, HDI boards continue to be used in downstream markets. At present, HDI products are mainly used in mobile phones, notebook computers, automotive electronics and other digital products, among which mobile phones are the most widely used. In recent years, the development momentum of RF boards has also shown a good trend. High integration and flexibility determine the high applicability of RF boards, which can be applied to various products of various sizes. Currently, small consumer electronic products are mostly used. , such as mobile phones, headphones, cameras and other products.

With the official issuance of 5G commercial licenses, 5G construction has entered a stage of rapid development, and the future market demand for multi-layer boards and high-frequency high-speed boards for communications is huge. At the same time, my country is currently vigorously promoting the "Internet +" development strategy. New technologies and new products continue to emerge, emerging technologies such as cloud computing and big data continue to innovate, and new-generation smart products such as AI equipment and autonomous driving continue to develop, which will vigorously stimulate consumption. The rapid development of PCB application markets such as electronics and automotive electronics, the vigorous promotion of 5G mobile phones has also promoted the update and upgrade of HDI boards, and promoted the rapid development of the HDI market.

(4) The regional structure of PCB in mainland China is adjusted, and the multi-regional coordinated development trend is remarkable

Most of the PCB industry is built around the concentrated areas of downstream industries related to it. Such distribution can save transportation costs on the one hand, and effectively utilize the talent resources of downstream industries on the other hand. The domestic PCB industry enterprises are mainly distributed in the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta and the Bohai Rim and other regions with strong economic advantages, location advantages and talent advantages, showing a cluster development model. However, affected by the rising labor costs in recent years, some PCB companies have gradually shifted their production bases to inland areas, such as Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Chongqing and other regions, in order to alleviate the operating pressure caused by rising labor costs.

In the future, a situation of common development in the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, the Bohai Rim, and the central and western regions may be formed. The common development of multiple regions will fully reduce labor costs, and at the same time solve the problem of green development to a certain extent, which is conducive to the long-term development of the PCB industry. develop.

(5) The HDI market in mainland China is in short supply, and domestic manufacturers usher in development opportunities

Since 2019, the government has strongly supported the construction of 5G base stations, and the number of base stations is greater than that in the 4G era. The massive construction of data centers, 5G and AI will increase the demand for high-end PCBs. Although the automotive sector has been temporarily slowed down by the epidemic this year, autonomous driving, V2X communication and automotive electronics will rapidly increase the demand for automotive electronic PCBs. In terms of consumer electronics, since the integration of chips in 5G mobile phones is higher than that of 4G mobile phones, the ordinary HDI of traditional Android mobile phones will be upgraded to high-end HDI, such as third-order, fourth-order, or Any Layer HDI, and HDI upgrades are superimposed. The recovery of consumer electronics shipments will become the driving force for the continuous increase in the proportion of PCBs used in consumer electronics. The demand trend for higher integration, lighter weight and more space saving in mobile terminals has further promoted the upgrade of HDI on the motherboard of mobile phones. 5G consumer electronics, communications, and automotive electronics have driven the growth of high-end HDI demand.

However, the supply growth of the domestic high-end HDI market is slow. On the one hand, due to the capital and technical barriers of new entrants, the HDI production line requires a large amount of capital investment such as purchasing equipment, and also requires a long period of technology accumulation, so the entry cost of new manufacturers is relatively high. , it is difficult for the number of manufacturers to increase significantly in the short term. On the other hand, for existing PCB manufacturers, tier upgrades require more production capacity. For the original production capacity of low-order few-layer HDI, if high-order multi-layer HDI is to be produced, the final output output will be greatly reduced.

With the rapid development of 5G construction, the future market demand for multi-layer boards and high-frequency high-speed boards for communication is huge. Although some manufacturers have invested in expanding production, on the whole, the domestic HDI production capacity growth still cannot meet the rapid growth. demand. Under this circumstance, the domestic high-end HDI market will experience an imbalance of supply and demand in recent years. Therefore, the current domestic high-end HDI manufacturers will usher in huge development opportunities.