PCB's rise is a foregone conclusion. LED industry is 'implicated'

In less than a month after entering 2017, PCB boards have already experienced a round of price increases. It is understood that the price of PCB boards has risen by 5 again in this round of price increases. Due to the new production capacity of electrolytic copper foil, the production cycle needs 2-3 years, so in the future 1- In 2 years, the shortage of copper foil for CCL and PCB will be the norm. The tide of raw material price increase has spread in the LED industry since the second half of last year. This trend seems to have not stopped in 2017. In less than a month after entering 2017, PCB boards have already experienced a round of price increases. It is understood that the price of PCB boards has risen by 5 again in this round of price increases. Due to the new production capacity of electrolytic copper foil, the production cycle needs 2-3 years, so in the future 1- In 2 years, the shortage of copper foil for CCL and PCB will be the norm. According to market news, since the quarter of 2017, the PCB industry has shown a good performance in the off-season from upstream equipment plants, raw material plants to downstream manufacturers. First, the proportion of vehicle-mounted boards for automotive electronics increased from 0. 5 square meters of copper foil substrate rose to 2 square meters; Second, it is said that the new iPhone 8 in the second half of the year will use a board with smaller line width and smaller line spacing (SubstrateLike-PCB, referred to as SLP) Technology, which will replace the previous HDIPCB technology. However, as the penetration rate of LED lighting accelerates to rise after entering, coupled with the continuous release of demand for LED small-pitch display screens, the market demand is strong, and the gradual recovery of PCB industry will last for a long time. Compared with the communication, lithium battery and automobile industries, LED industry has relatively low technical requirements for PCB, and the reshuffle of small and medium-sized PCB enterprises has LED to the compression of overall production capacity, large factories generally bet on future production capacity in the communications, lithium batteries and automotive industries, thus having a significant impact on the LED industry. Since the beginning of 2016, the price of PCB standard copper foil has increased by more than 50, and the processing fee of copper foil and the selling price of effective copper clad laminate are 100 and higher than the original average level respectively. At the beginning of November 2016, the price of the original copper soared to 48000 yuan/ton. As the price of the original copper rose by 26, the driving force for the price increase of the electrolytic copper foil was transferred from the processing fee to the original copper price. The overall price of the electrolytic copper foil has exceeded 110000 yuan/ton. According to Taiwan media reports, in January 2017, there was another small-scale price increase in copper foil processing fees. Some companies in the industry admit that the manufacturers of copper-clad plates have changed the habit of paying after three or five months of arrival. With cash to buy copper foil, the price of copper foil has risen by 20 ~ 30, you have to queue up for limited supply. Plate transactions are generally released for 90 days to half a year. After the demand for lithium battery copper foil appears, some manufacturers take cash to buy materials, which indirectly causes vicious competition with rising prices, it has never happened in the development of PCB industry for more than 30 years. Copper foil has been in short supply in the past year. In Last March, the market share was high, and the influential copper clad plate manufacturer Jiantao first issued a price increase notice. Other plate manufacturers followed suit, stimulating the upstream and downstream supply chains to follow up. The shortage of copper foil supply also led to the rapid rise of other raw materials. News from the industry said that another main material of CCL, glass fiber thick cloth, may rise to 7 yuan/meter, and the cumulative increase of aluminum substrate and light guide plate is about 20, FR- 4 cumulative increase of more than 40, plastic panels, plastic parts rose by more than 10, and even cash transactions in cartons for loading. Copper foil, copper clad laminate and PCB manufacturers have been struggling at the bottom for a long time. No one expected the birth of lithium batteries for vehicles. This round of rising cycle of raw materials is so rapid and lasting, this price increase is more caused by the conversion of electronic copper foil production capacity to lithium copper foil. The production capacity of electronic copper foil is 41000 tons per month, of which more than 8000 tons have been discontinued. Japanese companies have withdrawn from the closure of the electronic copper foil factory as early as three years ago, and converted to copper foil for high-speed boards, copper foil for high-frequency, copper foil for packaging, and copper foil for soft boards. In the whole supply chain, about twelve thousand tons of electronic copper foil is gone. At present, whether it is a new copper foil enterprise or an old copper foil enterprise, all their expansion of production is centered on lithium batteries. In addition, the new demand for PCB in the communications industry is beginning to brew. According to the public schedules of major operators, the commercial time of 5G may be further accelerated. It is understood that South Korean operators will provide 5G service in advance at the South Korean Winter Olympics in 2018. Verizon in the United States has also confirmed the 5G frequency band first, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Japan will also provide 5G services, so the commercial speed of 5G may be advanced. Since the number and complexity of 5 GIMO antennas are much higher than those of 4G active antenna systems, higher requirements are put forward for improving antenna integration and reducing assembly difficulty. In addition, due to the need to integrate a certain power in a smaller size, 5G also requires higher thermal conductivity than 4G. The commercial speed of 5G is accelerating. Compared with 4G, 5G has low loss, high integration and high consistency of RF microwave PCB materials due to the adoption of higher frequency, easy Processing puts forward new technical requirements.