The TPCA (Taiwan Printed Circuit Association)’s 2021 3rd General Meeting of the 10th term was held for the first time in the video conference format in line with the government's epidemic prevention policy as the epidemic in Taiwan has not yet fully subsided. The PCB Advanced Technology Inventory Conference and the 2021 TPCA Benchmarking Forum were held at the same time. TPCA Chairman Maurice Lee unveiled the gaps in process, material and equipment and the development blueprint of PCB high-end technology surveyed by TPCA this year at the Advanced Technology Inventory Conference. The benchmarking forum was themed "The Power of Dialogue: PCB x Semiconductor", echoing the importance of semiconductor-led PCB advanced manufacturing, with experts from leading companies such as TSMC, SPIL, and Unimicron exchanging ideas. The General Meeting attracted over 350 attendees and focused on the strategic direction of the Taiwan PCB industry in the future 5G era and advanced technology.
　　At the opening of the PCB Advanced Technology Inventory Conference, Chairman Lee thanked the Industrial Development Bureau, the Institute for Information Industry, and the Industrial Technology Research Institute for the resources they provided, as well as all the industry leaders involved, so that this newly revised blueprint for the development of advanced PCB processes, materials and equipment in Taiwan could be produced.
　　In 2020, the total output value of Taiwan's PCB industry chain reached NT$1.04 trillion, officially becoming a trillion-dollar industry. However, in the face of intensifying competition, Chairman Lee believes that Taiwanese companies must leverage their core strengths to develop advanced PCB processes, materials and equipment through the barriers of technology and quality to increase the added value of their products and build the competitive advantage of Taiwan's PCB industry chain, whether by mass production or niche models. In response to the design upgrade of end products led by applications such as the future 5G communication and high-performance computing, this year's advanced technology inventory focused on the gaps in HDI (High Density Interconnect), HLC (High Level Circuit), Substrate (ABF), FPC (Flexible Printed Circuit) related processes, materials and equipment for HPC, B5G-Edge, B5G-Infrastructure, High Power, and other end applications. According to the survey, the degree of autonomy of advanced materials is still insufficient in ABF, BT, dry film, and electroplating chemical; in terms of equipment, there are DI imaging machine, laser drilling machine, mechanical drilling machine, and electric testing machine, etc. Smart manufacturing has problems such as the data collection framework not being defined and the data security defense has to be improved.
　　Regarding the strategic direction of PCB industry upgrade, Chairman Lee proposed several ideas and strategies as the direction of future efforts of industry, government, academia and research: 1. Promoting the technology center platform, 2. Industry alliances to promote horizontal and vertical collaborations between board makers and material and equipment suppliers to break through technology bottlenecks. 3. Promoting the technology verification platform to accelerate the realization of benefits. 4. Taking into account the net-zero carbons strategy portfolio of the PCB industry, hoping that through the concerted efforts of all players to achieve the goals of localization of supply, autonomy of advanced technology, and net-zero carbon emissions, and calling on TPCA members to work together to cheer for the PCB industry in Taiwan.
　　The subsequent benchmarking forum followed up with the future trend of TPCA's advanced technology blueprint. This year's theme was "The Power of Dialogue: PCB x Semiconductor", and TSMC's Director Shin-Pu Jeng, SPIL’s Senior Director Yu-Bo Wang, and Unimicron's Executive President Chia-Pin Lee were invited to have a dialogue with experts from leading companies. Under the helpful guidance of the facilitator, Robert Lo, Vice President of Electronic and Optoelectronic Research Lab of ITRI, the three speakers elaborated the latest semiconductor and packaging technologies, next-generation packaging trends, and the opportunities and challenges of substrates from a macro perspective. Through this dialogue, the importance of substrates to Taiwan's semiconductor development was reinforced, and it is expected that more tractions of cross-industry cooperation will emerge, and that the semiconductor industry will lead Taiwan's PCBs to take a big step towards the autonomy of advanced manufacturing.
　　The year 2020 was a year full of intense market turmoil, but Taiwan's PCB industry demonstrated excellent resilience and competitiveness, not only seizing the opportunities of order transfers driven by the alternation of communication generations and changes in the international affairs, but also consolidating Taiwan's global competitiveness in the sophisticated semiconductor and electronics industry chain. In the face of increasing competition and changing market trends, TPCA continues to focus on the industry market, technology trends and the upcoming net-zero carbon emission issues, hoping to accelerate the pace of research and development through the release of advanced technology blueprints and the integration of resources from industry, government, academia and research, and to complement the needs of digital transformation and smart manufacturing so as to lead equipment upgrades to achieve the goal of autonomy of advanced technology and localization of supply.