News Briefing 

　　The FCCL factory of Taiflex announced on May 6 that it had signed and concluded the "Land Purchase Contract at Amata City Chonburi Industrial Estate" with Amata Group (AMATA) in Bangkok, Thailand. It is expected that Taiflex will invest US$35 million to implement the first phase of the factory construction, which is scheduled to officially proceed with mass production in the first half of 2024. 

Impact Analysis 

　　Even though Taiwanese PCB factories are mainly based in mainland China and Taiwan for production, Thailand remains a relatively important area as we view their distribution among its other oversea bases, such as Chin Poon, APCB, Tang, and others. All of these Taiwanese factories have set up plants in Thailand, and most of them have concentrated in Bangkok and its surrounding areas. Thailand is an important production hub of PCB for Taiwanese businessmen in Southeast Asia.

　　Even though corporate investment in Southeast Asia continues, the US-China rivalry in 2019 and the pandemic in 2020 have increased the trend of discussions on the topic of position for global decentralization. With this in mind, Taiflex invested US$35 million (about NT$1 billion) in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), which is the largest industrial park in Thailand. Since FCCL is the secondary raw material for PCB, this investment project should strengthen the position of the Taiwanese PCB industry in Southeast Asia.
 
　　From the perspective of production, automobile manufacturing and related components in Thailand are quite developed, so Taiwanese PCB factories have their manufacturing output primarily for automobile applications. Nonetheless, the demands for automobile boards are no longer limited to conventional standard ones, due to such developments as the electric vehicle (EV) and smart vehicles. Since FCCL is the kind of material for software, it suggests that Taiwanese PCB manufacturers have already established a different mindset for product distribution, which can also be most conducive to the improvement of the companies’ scope.