TAOYUAN CITY, TAIWAN – The Taiwan Printed Circuit Association released the 2019 Technology Roadmap of the Taiwan PCB industry.  

The Roadmap reflects technology leadership of Taiwan's PCB industry and the gap between Taiwan and its competitive countries. It also enables the industry to review the gap between the technology level among its members and the entire industry.

The 2019 new version includes information about end products with SLP (substrate like PCB) and COF (chip on film). Samsung and Huawei have followed Apple in using SLP, driving PCB vendors to invest in its production, according to TPCA. The changing trend of cellphone FPC to chip-on-flex substrates are a result of the launch of foldable mobile phones from Samsung and Huawei.

TPCA found there are still technical bottlenecks to be overcome in four major areas: reliability, 5G materials, manufacturing processing and equipment requirements. The total cost of electronic components is increasing.

To cope with the high-frequency and high-speed requirements of 5G, development of PCB materials will focus on lower dielectric constant (Dk) and dielectric loss (Df) and low humidity to prevent excessive water absorption and quality uniformity. This is expected to be a new opportunity for Taiwan.

While miniaturization becomes a trend in product design, precision requirements of equipment are enhanced. Equipment suppliers have room to improve in terms of high-precision repair equipment, AI applications in smart manufacturing and the elevation of automation.

In the long-term, huge business opportunities can be derived from various 5G applications, including automobiles, industrial control, and agriculture. After 2020, FPCBs driven by 5G mobile phones will be more impressive, says TPCA.

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