Kingboard is a mainland-invested plant and the world's second-largest copper clad laminate substrate (CCL) factory. Kingboard recently issued a notice that it will increase the prices of CCL by 3% to 5% from July. CCL is a crucial material for PCB for it is recognized as the "mother of electronic system products." If Kingboard has increased its prices and fired the first shot of a price increases for crucial electronic component materials in the third quarter, the mainland-invested PCB plants will be the first affected, resulting in an increase in the cost to the electronics industry in the second half of the year.

        Since the pandemic of COVID-19 continues, the industry is extremely worried about the resurgence of the second wave of the pandemic in recent days. Nonetheless, Kingboard is bold enough in defiance of the pandemic and asks for a higher quotation with its products, which highlights the popularity and demand of CCL. On the one hand, Kingboard has led the bandwagon to price increases, whereas Taiwanese-based manufacturers of CCL which include; EMC, Iteq,Tuc, and others are also paying close attention to the market developments of CCL price. For now, Kingboard is one of the top two largest CCL manufacturers in the world, alongside the other mainland-invested manufacturing plant -- Sye Electronics and they have accounted for more than 25% of the total market share with their global market share almost on a par. As learned from the mainland market, Kingboard has already issued the notice of increased prices stating that it will raise for major CCLs from July. According to the news of the price increase from Kingboard, the extent of price hike for different products will be between 3% to 5%.

        As for the reason for price rise, Kingboard mentioned in the notice that it is mainly due to the price hike of copper, resin, acetone, etc., therefore it has decided to raise the prices for all materials from July to account for the production cost.

        Since CCL is the crucial material for PCBs, accounting for 20% to 50% of the raw material costs of PCB, it explains why CCL factories have increased their quotations. As observed from the trade, rigid board manufacturers of the red supply chain are most likely to bear the brunt of the impact.

        As understood, Kingboard’s customers are mostly mainland-invested PCB factories, including the eight key players of the trade from southern China as well as rigid board manufacturers from the mainland. These plants include Shennan Circuits, Zhuhai Founder, CCTC, Shenzhen Fastprint, Suntak Circuit, Kinwong, Topcb,  Bomin Electronics, and other well-known PCB factories in mainland China.

        As for Taiwanese-invested PCB manufacturing plants, it was first reported that Kingboard has provided some materials to Unimicron, Tripod, Tech, Chin Poon and others. However, since these Taiwanese-invested PCB factories also have other important long-term CCL supply partners, it is believed the actual impact of the price increase from Kingboard is hardly significant.

        According to statistics from the well-known organization Prismark, CCL by Kingboard accounted for 14% of the market share until 2017, ranking first in the world. Sye Electronics accounted for 12%, NPC 12%, Panasonic 8%, EMC 6%, and Iteq 6%. As for the others, each of GDM, Tuc, Doosan Electronics, and Hitachi Chemical has accounted for 4% of the market share. As for Kingboard’s competitors, they include mainland-invested plants as Sye, and NPC, Iteq, Tuc, EMC from Taiwan, and Panasonic of Japan. (News source: Economic Daily News)