Flexium is a blue-chipped company among Taiwan's stocks. In 2007, the company successfully entered the supply chain for Apple and has been making a profit for 13 consecutive years. Considered as one of the top soft board companies in Taiwan, Flexium has also quickly become one of the top 20 PCB manufacturers in the world. To expand its layout, Flexium announced that they will conduct a two-year project worth NT$10.5 billion of investment and the location of its major investment will be in Kaohsiung.

 

    Cheng Ming-Chi said that Flexium should continue to transform as it aims to become the leader and integrator for 5G high-frequency intelligent communications, which includes 5G smart multi-functional antennas and the development for new composite materials, as they will be the focus of operational growth and investment in the future. As a result of the company’s continuous layout in technology and investment, 2020 is expected to be a year of greater breakthroughs for Flexium’s operation. The following is the interview summary with Mr. Cheng:

 

Q: How does Flexium view the prospects of 5G applications?

Cheng Ming-Chi indicted that they previously planned the revenue objective for antenna applications to increase by 50% by 2025. However, in response to the growth of new applications, there is a possibility that this contribution to revenue has allowed the objective to be achieved in 2023, two years earlier than originally expected. Regarding the future and that the market technology is constantly upgrading, we believe Flexium is likely to achieve a major breakthrough in 2020 and will conduct layouts in the Internet of Things and 5G applications in advance.

 

Evidently, the soft board industry is currently facing a new wave of upgrades. From the perspective of demand, products, and technology, 5G and digital multi-application in 2020 are expected to drive soft boards from single/double board towards multi-layer board specifications as it will create requirements for new materials. Furthermore, Flexium has, in advance, launched its strategy of transformation and investment layout and these measures are expected to soon be beneficial to the company.

 

Q: Has Flexium already scheduled its new capacity plans of production for investments in Taiwan?

Flexium’s new plant in Kaohsiung will be completed in the first quarter of 2020 and a trial-production is expected in May and June 2020 with official shipments expected in the second half of 2020. In addition, 5G and display applications will be the main focus for the first phase of the production and application of the plant.

 

Flexium’s new plant will be built and operated in two respective phases. The first phase will be officially released into production in 2020 and when the second phase is completely furnished, the new plant is expected to double the production capacity for the group, while becoming the operation base for Flexium’s 5G smart communication business. It is estimated that the new plant will generate 2500-job opportunities while attracting talented employees from industries such as communication technology and research and development. Consequently, the new plant will form a one-stop service provider for design, manufacturing, and testing.

 

In the past, investments in new technologies have resulted in Flexium’s consistent operation growth. In the past seven years, Flexium has, in total, spent NT$10 billion in investments, encouraging its average annual growth of revenue to increase to over 20%. Evidently, Flexium will persist in investing NT$10 billion at the He-fa plant campus in Kaohsiung to develop new materials, equipment, and millimeter-wave transmission technology. More importantly, Flexium will also work with local and internationally renowned wireless communication technology experts to help establish the company to become the world's leading enterprise in terms of high frequency and intelligent communications. 

 

Q: What is your view about Flexium’s future in the display and related communication applications?

For display applications, it is evident that the trend of replacing OLED with the Mini LED is increasing and the related products of Mini LED are expected to launch first, which can further operate as a breakthrough for electronic devices.

In terms of the material layout for new technologies, the frequency below 6 GHz is only decreasingly converted. There will be new opportunities and challenges in conforming to 5G for 28/39 GHz communications in terms of materials, circuits, and power. As the provider of "ammunition", Flexium will also strive to prepare itself for cooperation opportunities next year.

 

Furthermore, the soft board industry will become stronger with process upgrades if the industry continues its successes in a market that is based on the competition between speed and quality. Since soft board technology is constantly upgrading, the technology has developed from the single-layer board in the past and moved towards thin and fine-circuit double-layer boards, ten-layer boards, and multi-layer boards. In consideration of this development, manufacturers that are market-ready should efficiently seize the market share. (News source: Economic Daily)