SEOUL -- Sales of smartphones made by major South Korean OEMs are helping domestic printed circuit manufacturers grab market share from their Taiwanese competitors.

Korean fabricators are also being aided by a favorable exchange rate, according to analysts. The Korean won has weakened up to 9.5% against the Taiwanese dollar in the past 12 months alone, making Taiwanese imports more expensive for Korean buyers.

The primary impetus, however, has been Samsung and LG, says a manager at the Taiwan think tank Industrial Technology Research Institute.

ITRI pegs the total value of the South Korean PCB market at $10 billion as of 2011, with PCB manufacturing accounting for 68% of the total, raw materials for 13%, auxiliary materials for 2%, equipment for 4%, chemical products for 10%, and OEM/ODM (original equipment/ deign manufacturing) for 3%. The bare board fabrication market alone is up 51% from 2005, based on figures from industry analyst Dr. Hayao Nakahara.

There is a lot at stake: Over 565 million smartphones are expected to be shipped this year alone. There were 12 South Korean and 27 Taiwanese fabricators on the latest NTI-100 list of the larges PCB makers.

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