The output value of Taiwan’s printed circuit board (PCB) industry is expected to reach a record high this year, despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Taiwan Printed Circuit Association (TPCA) said yesterday.
The PCB industry had “no reason to be optimistic about 2020 at the beginning of the year,” the association said in a report. “But fortunately, the 5G early-stage infrastructure and carrier applications filled the gap caused by the pandemic in a timely manner, further promoting PCB price and value.”
Predicting that the industry’s factory utilization rate in the fourth quarter would stay “at a high level,” the association said it expects this year’s annual output value of the industry would reach NT$678.5 billion (US$23.85 billion), which would be a “new high,” the report said.
Photo: Tsai Ching-hua, Taipei Times
The PCB output value of Taiwanese companies with operations in Taiwan and China hit NT$185 billion in the third quarter, which was relatively flat compared with the same quarter last year, the report said.
However, if accounting for exchange rate volatility in the New Taiwan dollar, the output value would have been 6 percent higher in the third quarter year-on-year, it said.
The association said in a statement that it credited 5G-related demand for “enabling Taiwan’s PCB industry to maintain its output value, despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
That also came as many Taiwanese businesses were returning home to invest or expand production in light of rising demand for high-end 5G products, the association said.
Taiwanese companies with operations in China have slightly lost ground in the third quarter, it said.
“The overall performance of Taiwanese companies [with domestic operations] has been better than that of Taiwanese companies in China,” the association said.
China operations accounted for 62.5 percent of Taiwanese PCB makers’ total output in the third quarter, down 1 percent from the previous quarter, it said.
IC substrates and rigid PCBs were “key players” for growth in the third quarter, it said.
“Output of IC substrates reported double-digit percentage growth in the third quarter. Due to capacity constraints and supply shortages, IC substrates would still be the main growth engine for Taiwan’s PCB industry,” the association said.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
Taiwan is open to joining a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) program if one is created, but on the condition that countries provide delivery even in a scenario where there is a conflict with China, an energy department official said yesterday. While Taiwan’s priority is to have enough LNG at home, the nation is open to exploring potential strategic reserves in other countries such as Japan or South Korea, Energy Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said. While the LNG market does not have a global reserve for emergencies like that of oil, the concept has been raised a few times —
AI-FUELED DEMAND: The company has been benefiting from the skyrocketing prices for DRAM chips amid the AI frenzy, especially its core product — DDR4 DRAM chips DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday reported that its revenue for the first quarter surged 582.91 percent to NT$49.09 billion (US$1.54 billion) from NT$7.19 billion a year earlier, as the supply crunch caused chip price spikes. Last quarter’s figure is the highest on record. On a quarterly basis, revenue jumped 63.14 percent from NT$30.09 billion, the company said. In January, Nanya Technology expected global DRAM supply scarcity to continue through the first half of 2028, thanks to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) forecast prices of standard DRAM chips would rise between 58 percent and 63
RSS