In response to China's control against the COVID-19 epidemic, PCB factories have escalated the dispatching production capacity of their Taiwanese plants to support the requirements, such as Compeq, Unimicron, Tripod-tech, Flexium, Careergroups, EMC, Iteq, and others for their high and medium-end production capacity. As examined and recognized by the industry, the production capacity of the Taiwanese plants can still meet the demands or make up for the applicable demands by the end of March while lessening the disruptions impacting operations as a consequence of the epidemic.

 

        Insiders who are acquainted with the trade developments in the mainland stated on the 22nd that large PCB manufacturing plants with Taiwanese capital have experienced reasonably stable operations. If PC customers are located in Wuhan, these plants could still schedule the production capacity in that region and meet their needs. In terms of actual shipments, this would depend on the status of shipments and the logistics of products to customers, as well as the certification of individual factories. Once the shipments of merchandise are accomplished, such revenue will be acquired.

 

       As an outcome of the observations from the local supply chain, the current customer payments in mainland China is relatively fast and the transportation of shipments has also been increased to make up for previously suspended productions. As for the Taiwan factories’ production, the merchandise has been continuously delivered to the mainland.

 

        Compeq, the PCB supplier of Apple’s full product line, suggested on the 23rd that the market demand is essentially much better than that from the same period in 2019. Therefore, its plants in Taiwan have escalated production for medium and high-end processes to continue full production for the season, while its Chongqing plant in the mainland has attained a utilization rate with a production capacity of approximately 85%.

 

        In the past, the period from February to March is typically considered as the off-season for the trade and the PCB industry stated that they would, as a rule, prepare materials for approximately one to one and a half months so that the overall preparation and production remains relatively stable. As observed from the current status, there won't be any difficulties with the supply of materials for the entire month of March.

 

        As for Tripod-tech, the postponed resumption for production at its Xiantao plant in mainland China can be sustained by the production capacity from the Wuxi and Taiwan plants, together with the depreciation of RMB to help decrease production costs. With assessments from analysts, the impact caused by the delay in the continuation of work at Tripod-tech’s Xiantao plant should be less than 2% in the first quarter of this year, while the remaining factories and exchange will still be able to provide certain positive influences.

 

        Unimicron has mostly concentrated on medium and high-end processes in Taiwan plants. In the second half of 2019, the turnover from the mainland accounted for approximately 30% to 36% of the total revenue for the company, while the Huangshi plant should only account for 3% to 5%. Given this situation, it is scheduled to dispatch the production capacity in Taiwan and other foreign factories to step up production and this could make up for the relevant customers’ demands.

 

        For EMC, the monthly production capacity of its Taiwan plant has reached 500000 pieces, which can, to a large extent, compensate for the initial monthly production capacity of 300000 pieces from the Huangshi plant in the mainland. Therefore, the production plants in Taiwan have already escalated their production rate.

 

        According to the statistics by Flexium, a Taiwan-based FPC manufacturer, the available production capacity across the Taiwan Strait is still satisfactory to meet customer demands. In terms of Career groups, it has also increased and highlighted the escalation of production with plants in Taiwan in February and the company considers that its current production capacity has accommodated customer demands well. (News source: Economic Daily News)