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Demand for handset-use PCBs to pick up in the second half

09 Mar 2005 - As inventories decrease in the second quarter, Taiwan PCB makers -- Compeq Mfg Co. Ltd, Unitech Printed Circuit Board Corp. and Wus Printed Circuit Co. Ltd -- are optimistic that demands will increase in the second half of the year.

Demand for the past two months have been slow due to oversupply. Makers also claim that fewer handset models, higher prices and slowdown in capacity push from makers of mobile handsets significantly affected PCB demand.

Despite makers only projecting 5 percent revenue growth for PCB shipments this year, the launch of third-generation (3G) mobile phones is expected to push the demand for handset-use PCBs by the third quarter. Nokia forecasts that total subscribers this year will achieve 29 percent growth, reaching 70 million. Further, increasing volume production of high-density interconnect (HDI) boards using the 2+N+2 should have a positive effect on the market.

3/8/2005 - Orders for printed circuit boards from North American suppliers dropped in January, but were still up year over year, as the book-to-bill ratio climbed to 1.08, the IPC – Association Connecting Electronics said Monday.

The Bannockburn, Ill.-based trade group, which represents North American suppliers of PCBs, released its monthly book-to-bill figures Monday afternoon.

For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry sales billed, or sales for which revenue is recognized, grew in January 2005 9.2 percent from January 2004, while orders booked increased 20.2 percent year over year. Combined industry shipments for the month were down 6.1 percent over the previous month, while bookings were down 16 percent month over month.

The book-to-bill ratios and growth rates for rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined are heavily affected by the rigid PCB segment, which represents more than 75 percent of the current PCB market in North America, according to the IPC. The influence of flexible circuits is growing, however, as flexible circuit shipments have shown stronger growth than rigid PCBs over the past 18 months.

Flexible circuit shipments are up 46.9 percent and bookings are up 172.1 percent in January 2005 from January 2004. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments from the IPC survey sample increased 9.9 percent while flex bookings decreased 29.5 percent.

Rigid PCB shipments, meanwhile, were up 12.4 percent and bookings were up 28.8 percent in January 2005 from January 2004. Rigid PCB shipments from the survey sample increased 0.2 percent from the previous month, while rigid bookings increased 5 percent month over month.

IPC’s monthly survey of the North American PCB industry tracks bookings and shipments from U.S. and Canadian facilities, which provide indicators of regional demand, according to the group. These numbers do not measure U.S. and Canadian PCB production, however. Beginning with the January 2005 survey, IPC now asks participants for the percent of their reported shipments that were produced domestically; 65 percent of total PCB shipments reported were domestically produced. Domestic production accounted for 75 percent of rigid PCB and 31 percent of flexible circuit shipments in January, the trade group said.

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