HDI PCB manufacturers have seen a significant ramp-up in orders from Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi, who are seeking sufficient supply of components to support their expansion in the China handset market in 2021, according to industry sources.
The Chinese handset vendors, besides stepping up purchases of diverse ICs, have even directly approached Taiwan's PCB partners to book the majority of production capacity for high-end HDI mainboards for their 5G handsets, seeking to grab more domestic market shares relinquished by Huawei, which has been under tough US trade sanctions, the sources said.
HDI PCB makers Compeq Manufacturing, Unimicron Technology and Tripod Technology are all major suppliers of anylayer mainboards for the three Chinese handset clients, and they will all sustain full capacity utilization for such boards through at least the Lunar New Year holiday to meet strong shipment pull-ins from the clients, the sources continued.
Both Compeq and Tripod will be enforcing capacity expansions for HDI boards this year, while Unimicron will focus more resources on expanding production of ABF substrates and other IC substrates, the sources noted.
In the short term, Taiwan's PCB makers will see no match from Chinese peers in the supply of HDI boards for high-end handsets, in terms of production scale and technology capability, the sources said, adding that China's PCB suppliers including Kinwong Electronics and Victory Giant Technology may gradually gain ground in HDI boards for lower-end handsets.
