The LCP (liquid crystal polymer) flexible antenna products that have been developed by Career for many years have attracted great attention from Apple, prompting the company to raise an additional NT$3 billion to plan a brand-new process at its Guanyin plant at Taoyuan. This effort is the most noticeable one influencing the 5G market before the world enters the era of 5G communication.

 

      This event has also stirred up the entire FPC (flexible printed circuit board) supply chain. Both ZDT and Flexium Interconnect expressed that they will not be absent from the FPC antenna field, while the upstream original material manufacturers Taiflex, ThinFlex, and Asia Electronic Material are all actively invested in the development of 5G communication products. Taiflex and ThinFlex have also consecutively developed new materials with success in response to 5G communication needs.

 

      Apple was previously reported to have provided as much as USD$300 million worth of equipment for Career’s new plant, including laser drilling machines, laser direct imaging exposure machines, automatic optical inspections, and other relevant process equipment. As a result, Career, along with Murata of Japan, will become a key supplier of LCP flexible antennas for Apple.
 

     The world will enter an era of high-frequency and high-speed 5G communications no later than 2019. Head-end equipment manufacturers and terminal handset manufacturers are making every effort to pursue business opportunities. The market demand may potentially detonate to completely alter the original material supply chain in order to meet the market changes of the 5G communication era. Career’s investment in the production of LCP flexible antennas is just the start of this new era. (News source: cnYES)