While optimistic about the need for fifth-generation mobile communications, PCB and carrier boards foremost manufacturers, Unimicron, ZDT, Nan Ya PCB, and Kinsus, are introducing more investments, therefore, reigniting the capital expenditure competition. The total capital expenditure from four of these manufacturers is approximately $60 billion this year, which is a new high and is expected to drive the demand for peripheral copper foil substrates and consumables.

 

Despite the challenges produced by the COVID-19 outbreak, industry analysts disclose that the 5G infrastructure still benefits from the favorable policies that are dynamically promoted by the mainland and major markets in Europe and the United States in 2020. The better expectations for market demand and the quickening of many 5G infrastructures are also advantageous for the subsequent communication flow, therefore, further improving the transmission quality of home office applications.

 

Unimicron has considerably raised its capital expenditure to $24.07 billion this year, most of which will be spent in Taiwan. Unimicron also stated that the demand for high-access IC carrier boards is vigorous in 2020 and the visibility of some carrier board orders has already reached into Q3. This year, it will also ship products completed in the AiP process and further increase its production capacity to meet the high demands expected for next year. 

 

The global PCB leader, ZDT, led in achieving a full-year profit in the carrier board process layout in 2019. Based on ZDT’s plan, it is accomplishing the client-based one-stop purchase plan and will not rule out increasing the layout of carrier boards. Its capital expenditure is also expected to exceed $20 billion this year, as driven by the ongoing investments in the carrier board process.

      

The planned capital expenditure of Nan Ya PCB in 2020 has doubled over the last year to $8 billion. Nan Ya PCB described that it would increase the production plants on both sides of the strait synchronously while focusing on the expansion of the production capacity of high-end carrier boards. The manufacturer aims to increase the market share and continue to develop Netcom equipment, high-speed computing, and system packaging applications. The relevant expansion goals in the plan will be completed in Q3 this year, with mass production following in Q4. It is recognized that the continued full capacity production of Nan Ya PCB’s carrier boards since 2019 is mainly encouraged by the demand for game console applications, 5G Netcom equipment and servers, and 7-nanometer computing.

 

Kinsus plans to alter the production process of carrier boards to ABF carrier boards continuously while expecting its plan to be accomplished in June this year. In response to the process change, its overall capital expenditure is expected to exceed $5 billion in 2020. (News source: Economic Daily News)