5G drives the development of the PCB industry

5G drives the development of the PCB industry

On June 6, 2019, the 5G commercial license was officially issued, and my country officially entered the 5G commercial era. At present, it is expected to enter the large-scale construction cycle in 2020, which will form a comprehensive pull on the upstream, middle and downstream links of the copper industry chain. PCB is one of the beneficiaries. At the same time, the industrial chain dominated by upstream electrolytic copper foil-midstream CCL-downstream printed circuit board PCB has also been strongly driven by the communications industry.

Among them, copper foil is the most important raw material for the production of copper clad laminates. Electrolytic copper foil is generally used here, which accounts for about 30% (thick plates) and 50% (thin plates) of the cost of copper clad laminates. Copper foil is used here as a conductive material. The body is used for conduction and heat dissipation.

CCL, which is in the middle of the industry chain, is the core substrate for the production of printed circuit board PCBs, accounting for 20% to 40% of the entire PCB production cost, and has three major functions: conduction, insulation, and support.

Printed circuit board PCB is used in many terminal fields, of which the communication field accounts for the largest proportion. Therefore, with the construction of 5G base stations, the number of copper clad laminates and the demand for high-frequency substrates of related equipment will increase significantly. Due to the high communication frequency and wide range of changes, Among them, PCB substrates are still mainly high-frequency copper clad laminates.

It is estimated that by 2024, my country's annual investment in 5G base stations will exceed 100 billion yuan, and the number of 5G macro base stations will reach one million each year. And with the in-depth deployment of 5G networks, the increase in user penetration, and the increase in bandwidth and other connection requirements brought about by the development of 5G services, the demand for 5G small base stations will also gradually increase, thereby driving the development of the entire copper-related industry chain.

Among them, in the field of consumer electronics, PCBs are mainly used in products such as home appliances, drones, and VR equipment.

In the field of automotive electronics, PCBs are mainly used in equipment such as GPS navigation, car audio, car dashboards, and car sensors.

Therefore, under the joint drive of these terminal areas, PCB has a relatively broad market prospect.

In addition to rising demand, the replacement of domestic products and the shift of foreign CCL production capacity to the domestic trend have all made the domestic CCL industry usher in a new round of upward cycle. At present, China's copper clad laminate production has accounted for 70% of the world, and the downstream PCB output value also accounts for nearly 50% of the world.