Rigid PCB Industry 2015 Analysis for Global and China Markets: HDI Leads PCB Field

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This research says 2014 was a good year for majority of PCB companies, as output value of PCB industry touched USD59.6 billion, rising 3.7% against 2013, the fastest growth rate since 2011. Looking forward to 2015, a collapse in prices of commodities, especially in that of copper, will significantly reduce raw materials costs of PCB companies, thus further driving their profit margins.

In 2014, in key regions of PCB manufacturing, euro, NTD, and yen all depreciated sharply, while the won appreciated, dealing a heavy blow to South Korean PCB industry and cutting profit margins of the country's PCB companies, which all suffered declines in revenue and profit margins, no exception for Samsung's SEMCO, whose revenue from PCB business glided 2.4%, revenue from IC Carrier business dropped by 19%, and operating margin fell to below 1% from about 9%.

Taiwanese companies and European ones, benefiting from currency devaluation, saw a surge in profit margins, while Japanese peers didn't gain from yen depreciation, as more than half of their production bases are located in foreign countries, but still performed better than South Korean counterparts.

HDI was still a main engine of growth in rigid PCB field in 2014, and is expected to maintain the momentum in 2015. As mobile phone screens become larger, PCB for mobile phone has to react accordingly. To ensure light weight and thinness of mobile phone, the demand for more advanced Anylayer HDI increases tremendously. As Anylayer HDI technology is time- and -capacity consuming, combined with Panasonic's withdrawal from Anylayer HDI field, various PCB companies will expand Anylayer HDI capacity in 2015. In 2014, the company registered largest growth in revenue from HDI PCB business was Taiwanese Compeq, which boasts customers like Apple and Xiaomi with impressive performance, jumping by 28.3% to USD690 million, one step away from industry leader Unimicron.