Development status and main trends of PCB industry in 2022

According to Prismark data, the total global PCB market in 2020 will increase by 6.4% compared with 2019, of which the growth rate of the packaging substrate market will reach 25.2%; in 2021, the total PCB market growth rate is expected to reach 22.6%, of which the growth rate of the packaging substrate market is expected to be even greater. It reached 37.9%, setting a record high growth rate after the global economic recovery in 2010.

This round of strong growth in the PCB market mainly benefits from the following aspects:

1. Affected by the global epidemic, working from home abroad has become a mainstream trend. The strong demand for mobile terminals such as notebook computers has driven the PCB market to grow significantly, and its impact will be particularly obvious in the first half of 2021. In addition, in order to prevent the supply from being cut off due to the epidemic, companies have built up inventories one after another, which has also led to a clear upward trend in the market.

2. Affected by the recovery of the industrial, medical and automotive industries, mainly reflected in the first quarter of 2021 to the third quarter.

3. Driven by the strong demand for semiconductor devices and advanced packaging technology, the growth rate of the semiconductor market will reach 25% in 2021, which will rapidly increase the demand for packaging substrates. In addition, a new round of economic recovery has been driven by a combination of factors such as factory reopening, financial support, and vaccination

4.  Another major aspect of the growth of the PCB market is the growth of unit price. In 2021, the growth rate of total PCB production will be 13-14%, while the growth rate of output value has indeed reached 22.6%. It can be seen that the average unit price of PCB has also increased significantly. PCB raw materials will usher in a price increase in 2021. The price increases of the main PCB raw materials such as copper foil, flame retardants, resins, and glass fiber cloth will exceed 50% in 2021. PCB factories will be seriously eroded in profits. They have applied to downstream customers for price increases, which were eventually accepted.

5. The emergence of many important emerging products and new technologies has also brought a lot of dividends to the growth of the PCB market. Such as Mini-LED, AR/VR, foldable mobile phones, electric vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems, etc