Given the prospect of 2021, the growing demand for circuit boards worldwide is expected to continue to be a strong trend, and the output value of circuit boards around the world hit a high growth rate of 9.4% in 2020. Although the base period has been raised, the electronic product market of the world is likely to recover, and it is conservatively estimated that the output value of global circuit boards will grow by about 6% in 2021 as demands for both high- and low-end products have expanded at the same time. As such, the growth rate is anticipated to reach almost 10% most optimistically. The main reasons for this growth are that the auto market is anticipated to start to grow, and it will be the first year of 5G smartphone sales, with important applications playing an assisting part.

        

In addition to the continued growth of circuit boards worldwide in 2021, some other crucial issues have garnered our attention. These issues include 1. the increase of material prices, which affects the profits of circuit board manufacturers; 2. competition from Mainland-funded manufacturers to lead the industry; 3. Japanese and South Korean manufacturers are focused on transforming their product lines; 4. European and American manufacturers are focused on special applications, while Southeast Asia and Indian clusters are becoming more important; 5. a shortage of component parts has brought about uncertainty to production quantities.

 

 

 

In 2020, the global circuit board industry experienced an unexpectedly high growth rate despite negative predictions. Concerning the prospects of 2021, the electronics industry has experienced high demands for end products, so circuit board manufacturers have all made plans to expand production and increase their total capital expenditures. In other words, manufacturers are seemingly ready and well prepared to avoid having an under-supply of some products and meet the expected growing demands in 2021.

      

However, some cautionary measures need to be taken amidst the optimistic predictions. These include dealing with strong competition from various manufacturers vying to expand production, the pressure of rising raw material prices, and doubts if end products can be shipped smoothly due to a lack of materials in the supply chains of electronic components.