The circuit board provides interconnection and signal transmission between electronic products. Technological progress is driving the continuous development of 3C electronic devices such as smartphones towards slimness, miniaturization, and mobility. In order to achieve the goals of less space, faster speed, and higher performance, the requirements for printed circuit boards (PCBs) to be "light, thin, short, and small" are constantly increasing.
Circuit boards provide downstream demand for electronic interconnection, driving the growth of circuit boards
The circuit board provides interconnection and signal transmission between electronic products. Printed circuit board is a key interconnect used for assembling electronic components. It not only provides electrical connections for electronic components, but also carries business functions such as digital and analog signal transmission, power supply, and RF microwave signal transmission and reception for electronic devices. The vast majority of electronic devices and products need to be equipped with it, hence it is known as the "mother of electronic products". The level of PCB manufacturing reflects the strength of the national electronic information industry. The manufacturing quality of circuit boards not only directly affects the reliability of electronic products, but also affects the integrity of signal transmission between chips. The development level of the industry can to some extent reflect the development speed and technological level of a country or region's electronic information industry.
The demand in seven major fields drives the growth of circuit boards. The terminal demand for printed circuit boards can be divided into enterprise level user demand and individual consumer demand. Among them, the demand of enterprise level users is mainly concentrated in the fields of communication equipment, industrial control and medical care, and aerospace. Relevant circuit board products often have high reliability, long service life, strong traceability and other characteristics. The qualification certification of corresponding circuit board enterprises is more stringent and the certification period is longer; Individual consumer demand is mainly concentrated in the fields of computers, mobile terminals, and consumer electronics. Relevant circuit board products usually have characteristics such as lightweight, miniaturization, and bendability. The terminal demand is large, requiring corresponding circuit board enterprises to have the ability to supply in large quantities.
The development of circuit boards towards "light, thin, short, and small"
Technological progress is driving the continuous development of 3C electronic devices such as smartphones towards slimness, miniaturization, and mobility. In order to achieve the goals of less space, faster speed, and higher performance, the requirements for printed circuit boards (PCBs) to be "light, thin, short, and small" are constantly increasing.
The line width of circuit boards is evolving towards smaller sizes and higher integration. Especially with the increasing functionality of smart electronic terminals such as mobile phones, the number of I/Os is also increasing, and it is necessary to further reduce the line width and spacing; However, traditional HDI is limited by the manufacturing process and cannot meet the requirements. SLP (substrate like circuit board) technology with more stacking layers, smaller line width and spacing, and the ability to carry more functional modules has become an inevitable choice to solve this problem. SLP has a smaller line width than HDI. SLP, also known as high-order HDI, mainly uses semi additive technology, which is a circuit board graphics production technology between subtractive and full additive methods. The production process is more mature compared to full additive method, and the level of graphic refinement and reliability can meet the needs of high-end products, allowing for batch production. The semi additive process is suitable for producing fine line widths and distances between 10/10-50/50 μ m. As an optimized product that can simultaneously meet the requirements of mobile phone space and signal transmission, the gradual mass production and promotion of SLP will break the industry ecosystem.
PCB industry transferred to Chinese Mainland
Throughout the history of PCB development, the global PCB industry has undergone a transformation from being dominated by Europe and America to being dominated by Asia. The global circuit board industry was initially dominated by Europe and the United States, and with Japan joining the leading ranks, a pattern of joint dominance by the United States, Europe, and Japan was formed; Since the 21st century, due to relatively low labor costs, Asia has become the most important electronic product manufacturing base in the world, and the focus of the global circuit board industry has gradually shifted to Asia, forming a new pattern with Asia (especially Chinese Mainland) as the center and other regions as the auxiliary.
From 2008 to 2017, the output value of the circuit board industry in Chinese Mainland increased from US $15.04 billion to US $29.73 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.05%, far exceeding the global overall growth rate of 2.77%. The financial crisis in 2008 had a great impact on the global circuit board industry, and the circuit board industry in Chinese Mainland was not spared. However, in the context of the global circuit board industry transferring to Chinese Mainland, the circuit board industry in Chinese Mainland recovered comprehensively after 2009, and maintained a trend of rapid growth overall.
Current operation status of domestic PCB factories
As basic electronic components, circuit board products are mostly built around downstream industrial concentration areas. At present, there are about 1500 circuit board enterprises in Chinese Mainland, which are mainly distributed in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, Bohai Rim and other regions with high concentration of electronic industry, large demand for basic components, good transportation conditions, water and electricity conditions.
The huge development space of the Chinese circuit board market has attracted a large number of international enterprises to enter, and the vast majority of world-renowned circuit board production enterprises have established production bases in China and actively expanded. At present, there are about 1500 PCB companies in China, forming a pattern of multi-party competition among Taiwanese, Hong Kong, American, Japanese, and local domestic enterprises. Among them, foreign-funded enterprises generally have larger investment scales and certain advantages in production technology and product specialization; There are numerous domestic enterprises, but there is still a certain gap in their scale and technological level compared to foreign-funded enterprises. However, various manufacturers are actively transforming and improving their production technology and product professionalism to adapt to the arrival of the 5G era.