The annual event of the PCB industry [2018 Advanced Electronic Circuit Trends Seminar] successfully concluded at the Taiwan Circuit Board Association (TPCA) on August 22 (Wednesday)-23 (Thursday), attracting participation from more than 400 PCB production chains and external experts. During this period, Taiwanese PCBs had, on one hand, announced a historical record high for the first half of the year, and also forecast the growth rate of output value for the entire year. At this event, top companies at home and abroad such as TSMC, BOSCH, Unimicron Technology, STMicroelectronics, Kuraray, Rogers, Taiwan Microsoft, and Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) were invited to share their views on future PCB technologies and trends.

       During the seminar, the Taiwan Printed Circuit Association (TPCA) and the "Industrial Technology and International Strategy Development Institute" of TRI jointly disclosed that the total output value by Taiwanese producers across the strait, as well as that of foreign manufacturers in the first half of 2018 for production on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and foreign companies in Taiwan, amounts to NT$287.8 billion. The aggregate has grown by 9% compared to the growth rate for the same period last year, a new high for the same period among the previous first halves over the past few years. In addition to primarily triggering momentum for communication products and servers, shipments of PCs unexpectedly grew by 1% in the second quarter, which has also led to a demand for related computer multi-sided PCB, memory substrate, layer boards and memory boards and module circuits.

       Analyst Dong Zhong-ming of the Industrial Technology Research Institute pointed out that the IMF announced that the forecasted global economic growth rate in July was 3.9% in 2018 and 2019, which is the same as the estimated figure, so no adjustment has been made. Obviously, the visibility of global economic growth is increasing but the future remains to be troubled by certain interference, impacted by the Sino-US trade wars, financial crises in emerging countries, and so on. Although Taiwanese factories are affected by the stipulated discharge for environmental pollution in mainland China, certain production lines of mainland-based manufacturers are also effected, which has led to unexpected benefits from order transfers. As for individual products, the annual growth rate of shipments of FPCB, rig-d-flex board, and HDI boards has come to nearly 20%, considered to be performing the best.

       Dong’s analysis further stated that in view of the prospects for the second half of 2018, the new machine effect of Apple that used to trigger growth in past years is not likely to be as strong as last year, for the basis period has already been reached high in the year, and last year’s average unit price of Apple's new circuit board had come down lower than that of the iPhone X (including SLP class and rigid-flex soft board...). It is estimated that the annual output value of 2018 would be NT$630.8 billion, with an annual growth rate estimated to be about 2.0%, which will remain likely to hit a record high compared to previous years.