2013 will prove to be a crucial year for Taiwan-based flexible PCB makers due to increasing competition from rival companies in Korea and China, according to Shen Ching-fang, chairman of Zhen Ding Technology Holding.
Zhen Ding will focus on improving its profitability in 2013 instead of pushing sales growth as hefty competition will normally drive down prices, affecting sales as well as profits, Shen said.
However, there is room for further expansion by PCB makers, Shen said, citing that Zhen Ding ranked as the world's fourth largest PCB supplier in 2012 with revenues reaching NT$55.37 billion (US$1.85 billion), but it accounted for only 3.44% of global PCB sales.
Makers of FPCBs and HDI boards in Korea have been growing rapidly, with all local top-10 suppliers posting a 20% growth in revenues in 2012, Shen noted.
China-based HDI board makers are now able to roll out 3-layer HDI boards, adding increasing pressure on Taiwan makers, Shen added.
Zhen Ding plans to spend US$100 million to remove some production bottlenecks in the production of FPCBs in 2013 so as to ramp up its capacity as well as efficiency, Shen stated.
Zhen Ding posted revenues of NT$4.56 billion for May, up 10.7% sequentially and 2.5% on year. For the first five months of 2013, revenues totaled NT$20.79 billion, edging up 1.1% from a year earlier.
Zhen Ding chariman Shen Ching-fang
Photo: Patty Wang, Digitimes, June 2013
Article translated by Steve Shen
