Advanced Printed Circuit Board (APCB), which specializes in niche-market PCBs, expects sales growth to resume in the second half of 2022 thanks to its fulfillment of short lead-time orders and likely waning of global inflation.
At a recent investors conference, APCB's chief financial officer CH Tsai said its first-half 2022 revenues slipped 22.1% on year to NT$3.527 billion (US$117.56 million) due to weakening demand amid macro headwinds. Its sales for the first eight months of the year shrank 20.86% to NT$4.821 billion.
Tsai said the company's third-quarter revenues are estimated to grow 5-10% sequentially on seasonality, and fourth-quarter sales are expected to rise 4-5% from the second quarter thanks to continuous influx of rush orders and a possible softening of inflation.
APCB now maintains manufacturing operations in China's Kunshan, Thailand's Bangkok, and northern Taiwan, with monthly capacity reaching 1.4 million, 1.05 million and 220, 000 square feet, respectively.
In the first half of 2022, metal core PCB (MCPCB ) for SMD LED packaging contributed 34% of its Taiwan plant's revenues, followed by 15% for notebook camera module boards and 12% for networking applications, among others.
At its Kunshan plant, DRAM module boards logged the highest revenue contribution ratio at 37% for the same period, followed by battery boards with 15% and industrial control boards 11%.
Automotive boards accounted for 33% of revenues for its Thailand plant, mainly for body control system, dashboard, sensor and head lamp applications. Household electrical appliance boards came second with 22%, mainly for air conditioners and refrigerators, followed by 11% for power supply and industrial control applications.
At the moment, the Thailand plant registers the highest capacity utilization at 80-90%, followed by 60-70% at the Kunshan plant and 50% for the Taiwan plant.
The company said it will continue to develop more niche-market products that are usually small in size and require small-quantity production with specialty processes.
Article translated by Willis Ke
