The printed circuit board (PCB) industry has broad prospects and the development trend of the prototype small batch board market

1. Overview of the printed circuit board (PCB) industry

Printed Circuit Board (PCB) refers to a functional board that uses printing technology to form conductive circuit patterns or printed components on an insulating substrate according to a predetermined design, which is used to realize the interconnection and Relay transmission is an indispensable basic component of electronic information products. The manufacturing quality of PCB products directly affects the reliability of electronic products, and at the same time affects the overall competitiveness of system products, so PCB is called "the mother of electronic system products". To a certain extent, the development level of the PCB industry reflects the development speed and technical level of the electronics industry in a country or region.

PCBs exist in almost all electronic devices, and the reliability and competitiveness of electronic products largely depend on the manufacturing quality of PCBs. The PCB industry is the basic industry for the application of the electronic information product industry. The application industry covers a wide range, carrying the development of downstream industries such as industrial control, communication equipment, automotive electronics, consumer electronics, medical health and semiconductors. Emerging 5G, integrated circuits, new energy vehicles and digital economy industry upgrades and product iterations will continue to promote the development of PCBs.

2. my country's PCB industry continues to maintain its status as a global manufacturing center with broad development prospects

Compared with Europe, America, Japan and other countries and regions, the development of my country's PCB manufacturing industry started late, but the development speed is faster, and it has rapidly developed into a global PCB manufacturing center since the beginning of the 21st century. With the transfer of the global PCB industry to mainland China, the PCB industry in mainland my country has become the driving force behind the growth of the global PCB industry. Since 2008, compared with the output value and growth rate of the overall global PCB market, the output value of the PCB market in mainland China has grown rapidly.

Especially in 2021, driven by the rising prices of raw materials such as copper clad laminates, prepregs and copper balls in my country's PCB upstream, as well as the policy support and rapid growth of downstream industries such as 5G, integrated circuits and new energy vehicles, the PCB market in mainland China will continue to grow. The output value increased to US$43.616 billion, a substantial increase of 24.65% over 2020.

3. Overview of sample and small batch board industry

There are many types of PCBs, which can usually be classified according to criteria such as order area, number of product layers, characteristic processes or materials. According to the different order area markets that PCB companies focus on, there are differences in delivery deadlines, product uses, product models, customer structures, production processes and pricing strategies. industry.

As the basic components of electronic information products, PCBs are developing towards intelligence, electronics, and interconnection in most industries. There are massive and diverse demands for emerging electronic components in the entire manufacturing industry chain. From the perspective of PCB order size and different stages of customer demand, PCBs can be divided into prototype and batch boards.

The demand for PCB prototypes mainly comes from the research and development stages of customer electronic products, such as research, development and testing. It is the pre-process of PCB mass production and has certain professional characteristics. After the electronic products are successfully developed and finalized, the PCB enters the mass board production stage. Therefore, research and development The sample orders of the stage show the characteristics of multi-variety, small batch and fast delivery.

PCB batch boards can be further divided into small batch boards and large batch boards according to the size of the order. Among them: small batch boards are mainly used for professional user terminal needs such as communication equipment, industrial control, medical health and automotive electronics, and large batch boards are mainly used for General user terminal needs such as consumer electronics and some automotive electronics.

The downstream application fields of PCB for professional users mainly cover enterprise-level industries such as communication equipment, industrial control, medical health and automotive electronics, which usually require PCB products to have the characteristics of high reliability, long service life and strong traceability. The requirements for craftsmanship and materials are higher. The downstream application fields of ordinary consumer terminal requirements mainly cover consumer electronics and some automotive electronics. PCB products are usually required to have the characteristics of thinness, miniaturization and bendability. Due to the large demand of ordinary individual consumer terminals, and PCBs are relatively more standardized , which requires higher production scale for PCB manufacturers. Model and small-batch board products are rich in variety, and are relatively less susceptible to macroeconomic disturbances.

Due to the large differences in R&D, production, management and sales models for prototypes, small-batch boards and large-volume boards, different types of PCB companies have their own characteristics in terms of customers, products and production.

The prototype is usually in the pre-production link before the mass production of PCB products, the order area is no more than 5 square meters, it is mainly used in the customer's R&D proofing, testing and development stages, and there are many product models. The batch board is in the batch production stage after the prototype is developed and formed. Among them: the small batch board is customized according to the customer's needs. There are many product models but a single order area is small. The order area is between 5 square meters and 50 square meters. It is applied to professional user application fields after R&D and molding, including communication equipment, industrial control, medical health and automotive electronics and other industries; large-scale board products are standardized products, with few product models, large single order area, and order area greater than 50 square meters It is mainly used in the application fields of ordinary user terminals after R&D and molding, including industries such as consumer electronics and automotive electronics.

4. The development trend of my country's model and small batch board market

(1) The diversification of terminal electronic products promotes the gradual increase in the proportion of prototype and small batch boards

PCB is an indispensable basic electronic component for electronic products and information infrastructure. It is widely used in communication equipment, industrial control, automotive electronics, consumer electronics and semiconductor testing professional terminal fields, involving most terminal electronic products. PCB is closely related to the development of downstream terminal electronic products. The continuous expansion of the market scale of PCB downstream terminal electronic products has laid the foundation for the sustained and rapid growth of PCB output value.

Based on the existing policies, population and market advantages in mainland my country, the PCB manufacturing industry will continue to shift to mainland China in the future, and the PCB output value in mainland China will further increase. From the PCB downstream market, the development trend of terminal electronic product market demand towards diversification, customization, and small batches is becoming more and more obvious. The production capacity of mid-to-high-end prototypes and small batches in Europe, America and Japan is further transferred to mainland China. my country's PCB The demand for mid-to-high-end prototypes and low-volume boards will increase substantially. In the future, the growth rate of my country's mid-to-high-end prototypes and small-batch boards will be higher than the growth rate of the overall PCB industry demand, and the diversified development trend of terminal electronic products will promote the proportion of prototypes and small-batch boards to gradually increase.

2) R&D investment drives the continuous expansion of the model market

PCB is the basic component of electronic information products, involving many downstream industries. The prototype is mainly used for the research and development, pilot test and new product development of downstream electronic information product manufacturers. In the product development stage, professional PCB manufacturers are required to assist in the production of prototypes. The increase in R&D investment in the entire industry promotes the continuous expansion of the prototype market .

(3) Rapid development of downstream applications of prototypes and small batches of boards

PCB templates run through all stages of electronic information product research and testing, and are widely used in high-tech industries with high R&D investment such as communication equipment, industrial control, automotive electronics, semiconductors, and defense and military industries. It is used in enterprise-level professional user application industries such as communication equipment, industrial control and automotive electronics.