The 42nd International Electronic Circuits Exhibition was held June 13 to June 15 at the Tokyo Big Sight in Japan. The three-day event is the largest trade show for the printed circuit industry, and included the following related exhibitions:  JIEP (26th Advanced Electronics Packaging Exhibition), JISSO PROTEC (14th JISSO Process Technology Exhibition) and the Large Electronics Show 2012. Two new events added to the show were Monotsukuri Fiesta (Manufacturing Festival) and the 1st Printed Electronics Convention. Additionally, there were many special seminars and poster sessions that targeted both the novices and the experts.

In a previous edition of the DKN Research Newsletter, I pointed out the serious drop in business for the Japanese printed circuit industry. This was a concern for organizers of the JPCA Show 2012. They were hoping the show would attract enough visitors and trade show exhibitors to make it a successful convention.  Fortunately, over 470 companies and organizations reserved booths that took up even more space than last year, and the numbers of  visitors increased by more than 10%. The technical and business seminars were very popular – most of the seats were sold.

There are few special activities added to the convention this year that turned out to be a great opportunity to collect the latest technical information. One of the new zones added was called the Academic Plaza, where more than 80 technical colleges and institutes introduced their latest progress for printed circuit technologies.  Many of the researchers focused on surface treatments and they explained the details of their analysis.  Unfortunately, the details were extremely in depth, and I did not have the time to concentrate and process this information. The Tear Down Zone was another new addition to the show and was very popular for circuit board manufacturers and material suppliers. Usually, these vendors do not have a chance to see how their products integrate with the new consumer electronic gadgets. Their products can be found in smartphones, tablet PC, digital cameras and flat panel TVs. These galleries were very crowded as most of these manufacturers and vendors huddled around to see how their products fit into modern day consumer electronics devices.

Printed Electronics was a very popular topic during the convention. A large section was reserved for displays and seminars that featured new technologies for the Printed Electronics segment. Many equipment vendors, material suppliers and printing companies displayed new products, and researchers showcased their latest progress for printing technologies.

On the surface, the exhibition seemed to be a success because it attracted many visitors who were eager to learn about the latest technologies. However some of the exhibitors were skeptical about the crowds this year. Many of them wondered why they collected only a handful of business cards from even though the show attracted more visitors than last year. Some of the staff working the booths determined that many of the visitors were not potential customers, but competitors or material vendors within the industry. A lot of the larger companies did not reserve booths this year, but they did send some of their own researchers on a reconnaissance mission. Sometimes, it is better to play your cards close to the vest.

More details about the show will be communicated in the next DKN Research Newsletter.

Dominique K. Numakura
DKN Research, www.dknresearch.com

Headlines of the week
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1. Hitachi Chemical (Major electronic material supplier in Japan) 6/12
Has unveiled a new copper laminate “MCL-E-705G/800” Series for large size IC substrates. It improves the flatness remarkably.

2. IBIDEN (Major circuit board manufacturer in Japan) 6/12
Has agreed to cancel the joint venture “TIBC”, IC substrate manufacture with Toyota Industries because of remarkable shrink of the demands.

3. Toppan/TNCSi (Major printed circuit manufacturer) 6/12
Has developed a new coding system of “Secure Printed Circuit Boards”. It avoids illegal copies of the boards.

4. Kaneka (Major material supplier in Japan) 6/13
Has developed a new hetero junction type photovoltaic cell with 22.68% conversion rate introducing copper electro plating process.

5. Toray Engineering (Major equipment supplier in Japan) 6/19
Has rolled out a new thickness measuring system, “TP Series” for transparent conductive films. It is capable to measure 20 nanometers to 8 micrometers.

6. ST Microelectronics (Major semiconductor manufacturer in Europe) 6/19
Has established the volume manufacturing process for MEMS microphone devices with all plastic packages.

7. Samsung Electronics (Major electronics company in Korea) 6/20
Has lowered the shipping target of OLED TV in 2012 to 200k units because of high selling prices. LG Electronics did too.

8. Toshiba (Major electric and electronics company in Japan) 6/20
Will build a large scale solar power plant (100 MW) in Southern Soma Area in Fukushima Prefecture by 2014.

9. OKI (Major electronics company in Japan) 6/21
Has agreed to acquire the whole business of the printed circuit boards from Tanaka Holdings. OKI will manage the business a part of EMS.

10.  SPIL (Major semiconductor packaging company in Taiwan) 6/22
Will invest 17.5 billion NT$ in 2012 to increase the manufacturing capacities in Taiwan and Suzhou, China 50%.

DKN Research Newsletter
#1220, June 24th, 2012 (English Edition)
Electronic Packaging Industry News from Japan & Asia
(www.dknresearchllc.com)