Source: PCB Online

The printed circuit board (PCB) industry has recovered since the second half of last year, but in the fourth quarter, the international gold price, copper price and other precious metals continued to rise, the new Taiwan dollar appreciated against the US dollar, and the mainland was facing a shortage of workers at this time. There are still multiple hidden worries about the operation of PCB this year.

In recent years, PCB factories in mainland China have almost become the focus of revenue and profit. Even though the traditional off-season orders in the first quarter are hot, there is also a serious shortage of migrant workers in large PCB factories in the Yangtze River Delta and other important cities in mainland China. Some PCB factories are worried that the shipment is not enough to receive orders conservatively, and downstream customers are also facing difficulties. It is also a problem whether they can place orders according to the plan. After the Spring Festival, it may be more serious, and whether the revenue can be as expected is variable.

The recent appreciation of the new Taiwan dollar against the US dollar has also affected the revenue and profits of most export-oriented PCB factories.

In addition, the international gold and copper prices have risen sharply since the fourth quarter of last year, and so far they have remained at the same level. According to the private evaluation of the relevant PCB industry chain, it is unlikely that the prices will weaken this year.

The gold price once hit record highs repeatedly. As far as the PCB industry chain is concerned, integrated circuit (IC) substrate factories and the main application products are PCB factories of LCD panels and memory modules. The gold consumption is relatively large and the gross profit margin is also greatly affected.

The high copper price directly stimulates the cost of the upstream raw material copper foil and base material copper foil substrate (CCL) of PCB. Copper foil is the group with the largest increase, which may have reached 50% in the past year. After the price increase in January, there is still room for increase in February. In order to reflect the cost, the CCL plant with the largest consumption will also transfer it to the downstream PCB plant, and the overall PCB plant will be affected.