Taiwan-based PCB drill bit makers including Topoint Technology and Key Ware Electronics have seen their hole drilling businesses expand substantially since the second half of 2020, and are looking to further scale up such services this year, according to industry sources.
Topoint has increased its contract hole drilling capacity by 20% since second-half 2020 in response to growing outsourcing orders from PCB makers, which, coupled with robust shipments of drill bits, sent its first-quarter 2021 revenues surging 30% on year to NT$780 million (US$27.86 million) and net earnings shooting up 329% on year to NT$92 million, the sources said.
Key Ware saw its first-quarter revenues increase 31.68% on year to NT$361 million. The company has disclosed plans to raise NT$400 million in funds to purchase more drilling machines to fulfill robust contract holing orders from major PCB and IC substrate makers including Compeq Manufacturing, Unimicron Technology, Nan Ya PCB, Kinsus Interconnect Technology and Shennan Circuits, the sources noted. Its new drilling service foothold in Shenzhen, China has become operational since first-quarter 2021 adding fresh growth momentum to its revenues.
Persistently stronger-than-expected demand from terminal clients have prompted PCB and IC substrate makers to farm out more hole drilling operations, so that they can maintain high capacity utilization and reduce investment in dry-process hole drilling equipment when enforcing capacity expansions, the sources indicated.
At the moment, the segment of IC substrates, particularly ABF substrates, shows the highest demand for contract hole drilling services due to insufficient supply of related equipment.
The services are also increasingly needed for HDI boards thanks to their ever-rising penetration in handset and other terminal applications, the sources said.
PCB products for 5G infrastructure applications also show great potential for hole drilling services in the long term, the sources noted.
Topoint, Key Ware and others are now increasingly willing to invest more in hole drilling machines, driven by the ever-extending visibility for orders from PCB and IC substrate makers, the sources said.
