The growth in revenue of various products in 2020Q3 has been affected by several diverse factors and as a result has varied significantly. Of these products, those related to carrier-boards have ranked amongst the highest growths, exceeding all other types of products. Besides, even though the base period has already increased in the previous year, the growth rate is still showing double-digit performance, indicating that the momentum of the upgrade specifications from high-end computing and smartphone application processors driven by 5G is strong. As for the unexpected performance of FPCB, it is far below average and although the manufacturers can still benefit from a specifications upgrade, these margins can hardly make up for the negative impact from the overall terminal and major customer sales, resulting in a decline in revenue this quarter of 8.2%. On the other hand, rigid PCB has rather diversified applications, so the revenue growth rate is close, in total, to the average value of the industry if viewed from an aggregate point of view. However, the difference found in extreme values is estimated to be the greatest as this season, sales of each application have met with diverse conditions.

　　Q3 performance has marched into the traditional peak season. With enhanced overall demand that drives up increased utilization rate, gross profit margins of all types of products have improved compared with those in the first half of the year. However, if statistics are compared with those of the same period last year, except for carrier board products that have increased from 13.2% to 16.0%, we find that profit of flexible and rigid boards fell by 3.5% and 0.5% respectively and they have come to the level of 18.8% and 17.7%.

       As a whole, the output value in the third quarter has sharply declined to a low annual growth rate of positive 0.1%, despite the impact of negative factors such as exchange rates, a delay in Apple’s new phones, poor sales of mid-to-high-end 4G mobile phones, and the slowdown of purchases for servers and Netcom equipment. However, if we put it to careful deliberation, the negative effects mentioned above have, overall, been caused by irresistible external factors, and most have come from the short-term interference of the pandemic on the market, which should not persist. Hence, if we view it over a longer period, such a scenario will be brought under control and things should return to normal after the pandemic has subsided.