News
From TPCA Show 2020, observe the development of high-end manufacturing process in the PCB industry.
2020/12/04
Press Release
(November 30, 2020)
The TPCA Show and IMPACT-EMAP just ended at the end of October, and were held successfully this year despite the global pandemic. To serve overseas visitors who could not come, the organizer (TPCA) launched a virtual and real integration service to provide virtual exhibition and online conference, and together with other major exhibitions including “TAITRONICS”, “AIoT Taiwan”, “Laser & Photonics Taiwan” and “OPTO TAIWAN”, appeared for the first time as a “joint exhibition” in the form of “Taiwan International Electronics Manufacturing Joint Exhibition”. The five exhibitions collectively set a record of nearly 60,000 visitors, which established a paradigm for Taiwan’s cooperation in exhibition and conference, and integrated the advantages of Taiwan’s electronics industry resources into the international arena.
This year, TPCA Show and IMPACT-EMAP, under the progress of the real and the virtual, and industrial integration, had a total of 420 domestic and foreign enterprises participating in the exhibition, with 1,162 booths, 31,405 visitors, a total of 326,370 hits on the online platform during the exhibition and 5,077 professionals who visited online. During the physical exhibition, 42 seminars, theme forums, and new product announcements by exhibitors all led the industry to predict the future development trends and key factors for the PCB industry under the outlook for 5G outlook and the pandemic from this year’s exhibition.
2020 is a tricky and changeable year with 5G boosting PCB against negative factors
In 2020, Taiwan’s electronic component industries are affected by the pandemic, and though all products suffered short-term negative impacts, while the PCB industry benefits from 5G, and its output value is still among the top performers. TPCA chairman Li Changming mentioned that despite the short-term impact of PCB production in the first half of 2020 due to the pandemic, under the demands for the constructions of 5G base stations and long-range business opportunities, the annual output value is estimated to reach 672.1 billion TWD, a steady growth of 1.5% on year. According to an ISTI survey, in 2021, driven by positive factors such as reduced impact on consumer spending by the covid-19 pandemic and 5G business opportunities, the output value of Taiwan’s electronic components is expected to reach a new high. As the chairman of Zhen Ding Holdings Shen Chingfang said in his opening remarks, 2021 will be a year of optimism, and 5G, AI, and smart manufacturing will drive the development of new industries.
Five exhibitions united together with cross-domain technology integration
This year, for the first time, TPCA Show was exhibited jointly with other electronics industries in Taiwan in the form of “Taiwan International Electronic Manufacturing Joint Exhibition”. During the exhibition, there were also as many as 60 related seminars on topics such as smart manufacturing, semiconductor packaging, PCB, Mini/Micro LED, AIOT, Internet of Things, automotive lighting, LiDAR, etc., providing visitors with one-stop exhibition services through the electronic industry chain. The hottest topic in the PCB industry recently is that as Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is ahead of the rest of the world; substrate technology in terms of heterogeneous integration or SiP technology is also closely following the pace of semiconductor technology. Unimicron Chief Technology Officer John Lau pointed out in the opening speech of IMPACT, headed by wafer-level chip scale packaging WLCSP (Fan-In WLP, Fan-out WLP, etc.), the circuit design technology required to accommodate more pins in a smaller package area is expected to account for 25% of the entire heterogeneous integration market in the future, and the other 75% will be for the IC substrate market. The global IC competition will be closely correlated to the substrate industry, and it can be foreseen that as Taiwan’s PCB industry continues to advance, there will be more and more phenomena in cross-domain technology.
Material and equipment suppliers are the strongest supports of PCB manufacturers
From the TPCA Show this year, with 5G×Smart×Security as the main theme, and the highlights of exhibitors and new product announcements this year, it can be found that exhibitors are focusing on high-end manufacturing process technology and smart manufacturing applications in the 5G era. In last year’s TPCA technology gap inventory report last year, it was mentioned that in addition to material supports for circuit board suppliers to produce high-frequency/high-speed boards for the 5G environment, on the manufacturing side, there are also needs for process capabilities such as heat dissipation design, precision circuitry for thin board and high impedance matching requirements, etc. This year, both equipment suppliers and material suppliers have put forward related solutions, and some Taiwan-funded material suppliers even showcased products capable of supplying relevant applications in the satellite industry. TPCA chairman Li Changming, in his opening speech, also emphasized that it has become an inevitable trend for advanced PCB manufacturing to stay in Taiwan, which is expected to once again drive huge business opportunities for the peripheral industries such as high-end equipment and materials.
PCB smart manufacturing blossoms everywhere as board makers return to Taiwan for investment
At this year’s exhibition, in addition to the focus on 5G, another hot topic was smart manufacturing. TPCA has been promoting smart manufacturing for many years, and during the period, it has contributed to three corporate projects: PCB A-Team, Advanced FPC Smart Manufacturing Alliance, and PCBECI Equipment Networking Demonstration Team. With the completion of the projects and the promotion of the Association, subsequent industrial applications have gradually come to fruition. Faced with the demand for high-end technology, equipment suppliers have expanded system integration services through alliances to assist board manufacturers to implement high-end manufacturing processes. This year, although the unfinished pandemic and international competition have affected the development of the industry, the demand for 5G, AI, high-speed computing, etc. is still booming, prompting large Taiwanese-funded manufacturers to return to Taiwan to invest or expand production, particularly in equipment replacement, smart upgrades, and high-end manufacturing processes. This year, exhibitors also presented corresponding solutions in both software and hardware, symbolizing another big step forward in the development of smart manufacturing for the PCB industry.
One person can go fast, but a group of people can go far. Leverage the group’s joint strength for further upgrades
To summarize the trends presented in this year’s TPCA Show and IMPACT-EMAP: In the face of increasingly fierce industrial competition and material upgrades, and the gradually shortening technology update cycles, for Taiwan’s circuit board industry to maintain its competitive edge, not only must board makers achieve continuous upgrading for high-end technology, but they also need support from materials and equipment suppliers of the local supply chain in the entire industry. Especially when international trade disputes are frequent, how to prevent other competitors from influencing industrial development through national power is dependent on the critical factors of the autonomy of equipment and materials and the localization of the supply chain. As Shen Chingfang, chairman of Zhen Ding Holdings, urged in his opening speech that in the face of global competition, Taiwanese businesses can no longer fight alone, but must adapt to global competition and technological development, find entry points for upstream and downstream alliances, and integrate resources to achieve synergies. To this end, TPCA also actively endeavors to combine the strength of industry, government, academia, and research, integrate cross-border resources, and boost the high-end technology and smart upgrade of Taiwan’s PCB industry, all parts of its ensemble, to elevate the influence and competitiveness of Taiwan’s circuit board industry.
Picture 1: TPCA chairman Li Changming, TPCA board supervisors, and industry representatives at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Picture 2: The organizers of the “Taiwan International Electronics Manufacturing Joint Exhibition” also co-hosted the “Electronics Industry Trend Overlook” summit.
Picture 3: Over 500 participants were at the grand occasion of the IMPACT seminar and virtual and real integration services were introduced this year.
Picture 4: This year’s TPCA Show had 420 domestic and foreign enterprises participating in the exhibition with 1,162 booths and 31,405 visitors overall.
The TPCA Show and IMPACT-EMAP just ended at the end of October, and were held successfully this year despite the global pandemic. To serve overseas visitors who could not come, the organizer (TPCA) launched a virtual and real integration service to provide virtual exhibition and online conference, and together with other major exhibitions including “TAITRONICS”, “AIoT Taiwan”, “Laser & Photonics Taiwan” and “OPTO TAIWAN”, appeared for the first time as a “joint exhibition” in the form of “Taiwan International Electronics Manufacturing Joint Exhibition”. The five exhibitions collectively set a record of nearly 60,000 visitors, which established a paradigm for Taiwan’s cooperation in exhibition and conference, and integrated the advantages of Taiwan’s electronics industry resources into the international arena.
This year, TPCA Show and IMPACT-EMAP, under the progress of the real and the virtual, and industrial integration, had a total of 420 domestic and foreign enterprises participating in the exhibition, with 1,162 booths, 31,405 visitors, a total of 326,370 hits on the online platform during the exhibition and 5,077 professionals who visited online. During the physical exhibition, 42 seminars, theme forums, and new product announcements by exhibitors all led the industry to predict the future development trends and key factors for the PCB industry under the outlook for 5G outlook and the pandemic from this year’s exhibition.
2020 is a tricky and changeable year with 5G boosting PCB against negative factors
In 2020, Taiwan’s electronic component industries are affected by the pandemic, and though all products suffered short-term negative impacts, while the PCB industry benefits from 5G, and its output value is still among the top performers. TPCA chairman Li Changming mentioned that despite the short-term impact of PCB production in the first half of 2020 due to the pandemic, under the demands for the constructions of 5G base stations and long-range business opportunities, the annual output value is estimated to reach 672.1 billion TWD, a steady growth of 1.5% on year. According to an ISTI survey, in 2021, driven by positive factors such as reduced impact on consumer spending by the covid-19 pandemic and 5G business opportunities, the output value of Taiwan’s electronic components is expected to reach a new high. As the chairman of Zhen Ding Holdings Shen Chingfang said in his opening remarks, 2021 will be a year of optimism, and 5G, AI, and smart manufacturing will drive the development of new industries.
Five exhibitions united together with cross-domain technology integration
This year, for the first time, TPCA Show was exhibited jointly with other electronics industries in Taiwan in the form of “Taiwan International Electronic Manufacturing Joint Exhibition”. During the exhibition, there were also as many as 60 related seminars on topics such as smart manufacturing, semiconductor packaging, PCB, Mini/Micro LED, AIOT, Internet of Things, automotive lighting, LiDAR, etc., providing visitors with one-stop exhibition services through the electronic industry chain. The hottest topic in the PCB industry recently is that as Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is ahead of the rest of the world; substrate technology in terms of heterogeneous integration or SiP technology is also closely following the pace of semiconductor technology. Unimicron Chief Technology Officer John Lau pointed out in the opening speech of IMPACT, headed by wafer-level chip scale packaging WLCSP (Fan-In WLP, Fan-out WLP, etc.), the circuit design technology required to accommodate more pins in a smaller package area is expected to account for 25% of the entire heterogeneous integration market in the future, and the other 75% will be for the IC substrate market. The global IC competition will be closely correlated to the substrate industry, and it can be foreseen that as Taiwan’s PCB industry continues to advance, there will be more and more phenomena in cross-domain technology.
Material and equipment suppliers are the strongest supports of PCB manufacturers
From the TPCA Show this year, with 5G×Smart×Security as the main theme, and the highlights of exhibitors and new product announcements this year, it can be found that exhibitors are focusing on high-end manufacturing process technology and smart manufacturing applications in the 5G era. In last year’s TPCA technology gap inventory report last year, it was mentioned that in addition to material supports for circuit board suppliers to produce high-frequency/high-speed boards for the 5G environment, on the manufacturing side, there are also needs for process capabilities such as heat dissipation design, precision circuitry for thin board and high impedance matching requirements, etc. This year, both equipment suppliers and material suppliers have put forward related solutions, and some Taiwan-funded material suppliers even showcased products capable of supplying relevant applications in the satellite industry. TPCA chairman Li Changming, in his opening speech, also emphasized that it has become an inevitable trend for advanced PCB manufacturing to stay in Taiwan, which is expected to once again drive huge business opportunities for the peripheral industries such as high-end equipment and materials.
PCB smart manufacturing blossoms everywhere as board makers return to Taiwan for investment
At this year’s exhibition, in addition to the focus on 5G, another hot topic was smart manufacturing. TPCA has been promoting smart manufacturing for many years, and during the period, it has contributed to three corporate projects: PCB A-Team, Advanced FPC Smart Manufacturing Alliance, and PCBECI Equipment Networking Demonstration Team. With the completion of the projects and the promotion of the Association, subsequent industrial applications have gradually come to fruition. Faced with the demand for high-end technology, equipment suppliers have expanded system integration services through alliances to assist board manufacturers to implement high-end manufacturing processes. This year, although the unfinished pandemic and international competition have affected the development of the industry, the demand for 5G, AI, high-speed computing, etc. is still booming, prompting large Taiwanese-funded manufacturers to return to Taiwan to invest or expand production, particularly in equipment replacement, smart upgrades, and high-end manufacturing processes. This year, exhibitors also presented corresponding solutions in both software and hardware, symbolizing another big step forward in the development of smart manufacturing for the PCB industry.
One person can go fast, but a group of people can go far. Leverage the group’s joint strength for further upgrades
To summarize the trends presented in this year’s TPCA Show and IMPACT-EMAP: In the face of increasingly fierce industrial competition and material upgrades, and the gradually shortening technology update cycles, for Taiwan’s circuit board industry to maintain its competitive edge, not only must board makers achieve continuous upgrading for high-end technology, but they also need support from materials and equipment suppliers of the local supply chain in the entire industry. Especially when international trade disputes are frequent, how to prevent other competitors from influencing industrial development through national power is dependent on the critical factors of the autonomy of equipment and materials and the localization of the supply chain. As Shen Chingfang, chairman of Zhen Ding Holdings, urged in his opening speech that in the face of global competition, Taiwanese businesses can no longer fight alone, but must adapt to global competition and technological development, find entry points for upstream and downstream alliances, and integrate resources to achieve synergies. To this end, TPCA also actively endeavors to combine the strength of industry, government, academia, and research, integrate cross-border resources, and boost the high-end technology and smart upgrade of Taiwan’s PCB industry, all parts of its ensemble, to elevate the influence and competitiveness of Taiwan’s circuit board industry.
Picture 1: TPCA chairman Li Changming, TPCA board supervisors, and industry representatives at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Picture 2: The organizers of the “Taiwan International Electronics Manufacturing Joint Exhibition” also co-hosted the “Electronics Industry Trend Overlook” summit.
Picture 3: Over 500 participants were at the grand occasion of the IMPACT seminar and virtual and real integration services were introduced this year.
Picture 4: This year’s TPCA Show had 420 domestic and foreign enterprises participating in the exhibition with 1,162 booths and 31,405 visitors overall.