The purpose of factory expansion projects of PCB upstream raw material plants, including ITEQ, TAIFLEX, Fulltech Fiber Glass, etc. is to cope with increasing demand from automobiles, 5G communications, cloud storage servers and other products. The biggest boost behind this trend, however, comes from domestic demand as stirred by “Made in China 2025” master plan. The lingering US-China trade war has made mainland China realize that mobile phone chips, high-end electronic materials, etc. cannot be controlled by foreigners, thus prompting it to promote domestic manufacturing plan to produce high-end electronic materials.
 

       Among these manufacturers, the investment capital of ITEQ is the largest, amounting RMB1.8 billion to expand its Jiangxi plant’s production as driven by the growing demand of high-frequency materials, such as 5G, electric vehicles and IoT. The new production capacity will start commencing in mid-2019.
 

       Flexible copper clad laminates (FCCL) account for 40% of TAIFLEX’s revenue in mainland China. It set up a new plant in Nantong City, Rudong County of Jiangsu Province with a total investment sum of RMB1 billion. Expected to complete in 2019 Q1, it will start production in Q2 to boost revenue. The new plant is mainly built to cope with rising demand for soft PCBs from automobile electronics, prompting it to actively invest in Nantong and establishing a new production capacity.

 

       In terms of fiberglass cloth factory, automobile PCBs ranked first in shipment proportion for Fulltech Fiber Glass to account for 45% of its revenue. Following the greater reliance of electronics from automobiles, its production proportion on automobile applications will continue to increase. Fulltech Fiber Glass invested RMB1.65 billion in Dongguan to install with 360 weaving looms. It will mass produce in 2019 Q1 to focus on the market of automobile server applications.
 

 The main purpose of launching the “RMB1 billion” investment projects in mainland China by upstream raw material suppliers in PCB supply chain is to meet the needs of high-end, high-frequency and high-speed electronic materials with safety-accredited certifications through new production capacities. Hence, it is not difficult to see the enthusiasm of various suppliers on “Made in China 2025” master plan. (News source: cnYES)