TOKYO — Japan May PWB production rose 7.9% year-over-year to 80.3 billion yen, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry reported last week.
May production dropped 5% from April. The sequential drop is unusual as a rebound typically occurs in May, industry analyst Dominique Numakura said in his weekly newsletter.
Rigid multilayer board sales rose 1.1% over last year, but fell 7.8% from April. Unit selling prices dropped "significantly," Numakura said. Single- and double-sided boards and high-layer-count boards were flat compared to April.
Flex circuit sales rose 11.2% from 2006 and 2.4% over April. Double-sided and multilayer flex boards were up 19.5% year-over-year and 4.4% from April. Average selling prices have remained at record high levels over the last four months, indicating that the flex circuit segment is trending upward, Numakura said. However, single-side flex data suggest a downward trend in volume and revenues, he said.