News Briefing The low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite market is experiencing another surge. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has increased his investment in SpaceX, while Amazon's Kuiper has recently expanded its orders from the Taiwanese supply chain. Not only have they requested additional orders, but they also expect suppliers to increase production capacity outside of China and Taiwan due to geopolitical concerns. In response, Taiwanese companies such as Wistron NeWeb, Arcadyan, Unimicron, Chin Poon, and Tripod are accelerating their efforts to establish factories in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and Thailand, to secure these orders. With new production capacities coming online and orders being steadily shipped out, business prospects look promising. Impact analysis Network communications have always been one of the key global application markets. Beyond the continuous deployment of 5G base stations, there is a global push towards developing B5G (Beyond 5G) technologies, with low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites spearheading a new revolution in the communications market. LEO satellites can provide connection speeds of up to 100+ Mbps and, due to their proximity to Earth‘s orbit, can also meet the demands for low-latency services. The recent rise of direct satellite-to-phone technology has further connected a vast number of mobile users, highlighting the immense commercial potential of LEO satellites. However, the nature of LEO satellites limits the coverage area of each satellite, necessitating a large number of satellites to build an uninterrupted network. Additionally, these satellites require periodic replacement and replenishment approximately every five years, ensuring a stable long-term demand. This makes LEO satellites an attractive new market for Taiwanese PCB manufacturers as they seek to diversify and reduce their reliance on consumer electronics. Leading the global low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite operators is SpaceX's Starlink, which has already deployed over 6,000 satellites, covering more than 100 countries and regions, and serving over 3 million users. In 2023, Amazon announced a $10 billion investment to enter this market with its Kuiper project. By April of this year, Amazon had achieved the capability to produce five satellites per day, with plans to deploy over 1,600 satellites by 2026. Additionally, China is actively developing its version of Starlink—the "Qianfan Constellation Project" (also known as the G60 Starlink Project). The first batch of satellites was launched on August 5th, with plans to complete the launch of 108 satellites by 2024, aiming to deploy 15,000 LEO satellites by 2030. Due to geopolitical factors, SpaceX and Amazon have chosen to collaborate with Taiwanese companies in their PCB supply chains, which has also prompted Taiwanese manufacturers to plan satellite PCB product layouts in Southeast Asia. As competition among satellite operators intensifies, they are increasingly releasing orders, leading to the rapid expansion of the Taiwanese supply chain. This growth has accelerated the doubling of satellite PCB revenues. It is estimated that in 2024, Taiwan's satellite PCB industry could reach a value of 20 billion New Taiwan dollars, making it a significant growth driver for the industry this year.