In recent years, rising geopolitical tension coupled with the supply chain crisis caused by the pandemic has forced the world to rethink the importance of supply chain resilience. As a result, a new wave of production transfers has been initiated. According to Taiwan Printed Circuit Association (TPCA) statistics, 29 Taiwanese and Chinese board manufacturers announced the opening of new plants in Southeast Asia from 2022 to 2023, particularly Thailand, which accounts for 26 plants. In total, more than 30 raw material suppliers in the supply chain have invested over USD2 billion.

The Emergence of Southeast Asia as a Popular Destination for PCB Production Sites
　　After several waves of transfers in the global PCB industry, Mainland China reformed and opened up in the 1990s and joined the WTO in 2001. The two waves of transformations have attracted the entry of the global manufacturing and PCB industries into China. However, with increasing labor costs in Mainland China and the rise of the red supply chain, Japanese and Korean PCB manufacturers have gradually decreased their presence in Mainland China and expanded investments in Southeast Asia since 2010, so their production arrangements have become very dispersed. Currently, approximately 62% of the Taiwanese PCB industry’s output is attributed to China, and most Chinese PCB manufacturers are based in China. Consequently, with the increasing scale of Taiwan-owned and China-owned board plants, Mainland China now possesses more than half of the global PCB manufacturing capacity. The new wave of transfers is mainly driven by international customers trying to diversify the risks of over-centralized manufacturing and trade uncertainties while some manufacturers are adopting a new global layout of vying for new orders or diversifying capital. The above factors serve as the impetus to expanding the cross-strait PCB supply chains to Southeast Asia.
　　Although the labor cost in Mainland China is not the cheapest, its convenient infrastructure, improved labor quality, enormous domestic demand market, and mature business environment have made it the most competitive region for PCB production. However, benefiting from the wave of supply chain transfers, the production competitiveness of Southeast Asia is gradually improving. The region not only boasts abundant labor and lower labor costs, but also extremely low geopolitical risks, making Southeast Asia the premier production site choice for the global supply chain amid existing international tensions, and the cross-strait PCB industry chain has followed suit. In particular, Thailand and Vietnam have become the most competitive PCB production regions thanks to their relatively more mature PCB industry and massive electronics downstream industry. 
　　Since the PCB supply chain in Southeast Asia is still in its infancy, manufacturers are faced with many hidden costs. However, the region is benefitting from the Agreement on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff Scheme for the ASEAN Free Trade Area. Hence, its advantages in trade convenience make up for the lack of supply chain maturity in its infancy. The supply chain gap problem is expected to improve gradually over time to elevate production performance.

Cross-Strait PCB Supply Chains Advance to Thailand – Changing the Thai PCB Landscape
　　In the past, Thailand’s PCB industry mainly comprised Japanese firms and Thai company KCE, and there were only three Taiwanese manufacturers (Apex, Chin Poon, and APCB). The Thai PCB industry served primarily automotive and computer peripheral-related applications, with an overall output of approximately USD3 billion. With a large-scale introduction of Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturers into the country, the Thai PCB landscape is embracing a major transformation. Although new manufacturers’ products are mostly multi-layer PCB and HDI products, their applications are no longer limited to the automotive field and will expand into servers and other diverse application fields. 
　　From an upstream supply chain point of view, although a few key material suppliers have established production sites in Thailand, the overall ratio is still relatively low. Nonetheless, with an influx of PCB manufacturers, the Thai PCB output is expected to increase to more than 5% of the global output to stimulate an increase in overall economic benefits and, at the same time, exert a more significant impact on the supply chain.

The PCB Industry Introduces More Momentum to Taiwan-Thailand Collaboration
　　In response to the changing circumstances and to assist Taiwanese manufacturers in establishing a presence in Thailand, the TPCA Thailand Association was formed in 2023 to facilitate industry-government-academia-research collaboration. In early 2024, the “1st Meeting of the Taiwan-Thailand PCB Industry Cooperation and Communication Platform” was held in Bangkok to discuss the problems encountered in PCB investment and operation. A total of 14 organizations, including the Thai Ministry of Industry, the Board of Investment (BOI), the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI), and the Thailand Printed Circuit Association (THPCA), engaged in exchanges with Taiwan's Industrial Development Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Asia-Pacific Industry Chain Office, National Formosa University, the Digital Transformation Research Institute, and the International Cooperation Center. In-depth discussions were held on PCB human resources, supply chain investment, investment guarantee, site selection, utilities, waste disposal, and other issues. Thailand also indicated that it will continue to monitor difficulties faced by Taiwanese businesses in Thailand and provide assistance.
　　In addition, there are also bustling activities in the private sector. The inaugural “Intelligent Asia Thailand” will be held at the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (BITEC) from February 29 to March 2, 2024, attracting 203 manufacturers from eight countries and regions, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, USA, Germany, India, and Singapore. At the same time, the TPCA also organized the Thailand Intelligent Electronics Conference, featuring a series of diverse meetings such as summits, advanced technology forums, practical exchanges on investment and implementation, and industry-academia matchmaking on talent day. Vacancies for these activities have already been booked, while over 200 students from nine Thai schools have signed up for the industry-academia matchmaking meeting. During the exhibition, a PCB investment seminar will also be arranged to foster communication between the Thai industry and the government, indicating that the PCB industry chain will introduce a new outlook and collaboration opportunities to Thailand's economy, trade, and academia.