South Korean PCB market to grow 7% this year

South Korea’s printed circuit board (PCB) market is expected to grow 7% this year from 2021 led by high demand for chip boards, according to the Korea Printed Circuit Association (KPCA).

The local PCB market is expected to be worth 16.255 trillion won, the association said.

Revenue from chip board will account for 5 trillion won of that total, a growth of 19% compared to 2021, KPCA said.

Chip boards are in high demand due to the ongoing global chip shortage, which helped revenue from chip boards last year grow 27% year-on-year.

Revenue from Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Daeduck Electronics and Korea Circuit, which manufacture flip-chip ball grid array (FC-BGA) is expected to grow this year from this demand.

FC-CSP (chip scale package) manufacturers like LG Innotek and Simmtech are also expected to see high revenue growth.

Meanwhile, according to the KPCA, the rigid PCB market this year in South Korea is expected to be worth 4 trillion won, similar to those in 2020 and 2019. The main causes are an increase in raw material prices and a drop in sales prices, the association said.

Only 8-layer rigid PCB are expected to enjoy slight growth, while those with less than six layers as well as high-density interconnection PCBs will post similar revenues to last year.

While demand for 5G boards is high, their specification is being downgraded to have fewer layers, the KPCA noted.

Meanwhile, automotive board demand is expected to continue to grow while those for smartphones are expected to drop as Chinese PCB rivals are showing improvements in technology, the association said.

The market for flexible PCBs will grow 2% year-on-year. This sector is led by rigid-flexible PCBs, which are used mainly for OLED panels and smartphone camera modules.