Production capacity or faults of a large HDI factory, the epidemic situation affects the supply of 5G terminal customers

Recently, PCB manufacturer Founder Technology has become the focus of attention in the industry due to the parent company's debt thunderstorm, and questions have been raised as to whether its Zhuhai PCB plant can be put into production as scheduled.

According to industry insiders, as a high-end HDI manufacturer focusing on PCB business products, Founder Technology's customers mainly include first-tier manufacturers such as Huawei, ZTE, Dell, Cisco, etc. The parent company's thunderstorm affects its production capacity, which affects to a certain extent The industry structure of PCB manufacturers also affects the product progress of 5G-related customers.

At the end of last year, Korean manufacturers LG and Samsung successively announced their withdrawal from the HDI market. In addition, the fires at the Huatong Huizhou factory have also compounded the shortage of HDI capacity. Price surge.

Founder technology capacity or fault

The industry knows that with the opportunity to start 5G large-scale commercialization in 2020, first-tier terminal mobile phone brand manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung and Huawei accelerate the innovation and upgrade of 5G antennas, optical lenses and folding screens in multiple dimensions. Among them, the smart terminal motherboard is ushered in a major and decisive change due to the chip upgrade. HDI motherboard technology and materials will be upgraded, and the value will also increase. Domestic HDI manufacturing and processing manufacturers will usher in the best market opportunities.

According to Jiwei.com, in the 4G era, the motherboards of Android-based phones are 2-3 layers or 8-10 layers of HDI. In the 5G era, they will be upgraded to at least 8-12 layers of 4th order HDI, and some require any layer of HDI. , Each increase of the average price can increase 800-1000 yuan.

While the individual value of HDI boards has increased, the imbalance between supply and demand of capacity has also begun to emerge. At the end of last year, industry analysts told Jiwei.com that high-end HDI capacity may have a tight supply and demand situation in 2020. Some customers of Tier HDI project have accepted the price increase requirements of suppliers.

In this context, for the HDI industry, successive encounters with fires at the Huatong factory and unclear operation of the Founder Technology production line have also caused concern in the industry. "The availability of Zhuhai Founder PCB Factory has a great impact on the current market structure; Founder PCB also has mobile phone orders and is also a supplier of Huawei; if their output has an impact, it will certainly affect the entire PCB supply structure."

In addition, "Compared to the previous fire in the Huatong factory, it mainly affected international or domestic first-tier brand mobile phone manufacturers, while the current domestic HDI factories, customers are mainly first-tier brands and ODM markets. Therefore, Founder is closer to China than Huatong. HDI market, so the founder Zhuhai PCB factory's impact on production is more direct. "Well-known domestic HDI manufacturers said.

From the previous situation of Founder Technology's Zhuhai factory, which was learned by Jiwei.com, it was originally planned to cap in January 2019, start electromechanical installation in April, install and debug equipment in September to November, and trial production in December. In order to verify the current production status of Founder Technology, Jiwei.com repeatedly called its secretary's office, and no one answered.

Does it affect end-customer supply?

2020 will be the year when 5G mobile phones are gradually popularized, and the corresponding market space will also increase from about 100 million yuan to about 4.25 billion yuan, with huge room for increase. In the process of upgrading consumer electronics, the high-end HDI motherboards equipped with it also usher in new opportunities.

However, a sudden and continuing epidemic has pushed an uncertain button for the current wave of 5G replacements.

However, the current investment community is more optimistic. During the "Jiwei Dragon Gate Array" event organized by Jiwei.com on February 21, many investors said that from the whole year, the epidemic has little effect on the 5G replacement wave. Come a new wave of changes. Although the current manufacturing industry has not fully resumed work, only 50% to 60%; but consumers ’enthusiasm for replacement is just needed and exists throughout the year. No replacement in the first quarter will accelerate the replacement demand in the second and third quarters.

Jiwei also learned from industry insiders that the emergence of 5G replacement wave is mainly driven by market forces. Based on the impact of the current epidemic on all walks of life across the country, disrupting the resumption and resumption of production in the upper and lower reaches of the entire mobile phone industry chain, it also affects consumers' financial strength and desire to purchase.

In addition, an HDI manufacturer said, "If the replacement tide comes late and the resumption of production and normalization of various manufacturers will reach a normal level, it will be a relatively stable situation; if it comes early, the resumption of production and resumption has not yet reached the basic capacity level, then it must be Unable to complete the request. "

From the perspective of Jiwei.com reporters, among the mainland manufacturers that currently have more than 3 levels of HDI mass production, only Ultrasonic Electronics, Founder Technology, Dongshan Precision Subsidiary, Jingwang Electronics, Zhongjing Electronics, Shenghong Technology, Xingsen Technology, etc., and Founder's production capacity is unknown.

It is understood that the above several PCB manufacturers have gradually resumed work from February 10th, and the resumption rate of resumption has reached 60% -70%. At the same time, given the continuing causes of the epidemic, there will still be uncertainties in the future in terms of epidemic prevention and control policies, prevention and control materials, labor, and supply and demand in the industrial chain.

In addition to listed companies, for many small and medium-sized manufacturers, a well-known HDI manufacturer frankly stated that "the current order situation is better, but the shipment situation is not ideal, and the situation of resuming production and production is not optimistic. . "