PCB is mainly used in communication, automotive electronics, consumer electronics and other fields. Among them, computers and communications are the main downstream markets, which is why multilayer boards still occupy a large market share.

As the basic industry of the electronics industry, its development direction is determined by the development direction of downstream industries.

The strongest voice in the future downstream industries is undoubtedly 5G, smartphones, and automotive electronics.

We analyze one by one:

1.Inspiring-5G

Junlin once said:

"Evolution of communication technology has not only brought a new way of communication and collaboration to human beings, but has also spawned business forms that were unimaginable in the past."

In the 4G era, we have ushered in new industries and new models such as mobile payment, online video, takeaway, and sharing economy. The glorious mobile Internet era was started by 4G.

For the time being, people can only imagine that 5G can promote the rapid development of industries such as AI, virtual reality, and autonomous driving. However, these areas alone are enough to spark the imagination of the future for all parties.

In the 5G era, wireless signals will extend to higher frequency bands. Because the coverage area of base stations is inversely proportional to the communication frequency, the density of base stations and the amount of mobile data calculations will increase significantly.

At present, the industry predicts that the number of 5G base stations will be doubled in the 4G era.

In addition, there are about 10 times the number of small base stations, which are used to solve the problem of weak coverage and coverage blind spots.

The amount of high-frequency PCB used for 5G base station antennas will be several times that of 4G. The increase in IDC and communication base stations will also bring huge demand for high-speed PCBs.

In addition to the increase in the number of base stations, the value of a single base station PCB board will also increase significantly.

Due to the increase of 5G communication frequency bands and the number of RF front-end components, the area of the PCB board will also increase, and the number of layers will also increase.

The larger area, more layers, and the use of high-frequency and high-speed substrates have shifted the value of base station antennas to PCBs.

The amount of PCB value of a single macro base station can reach twice that of the 4G era.

According to estimates, the number of 5G new communication base stations will reach 8-9 million, and the PCB value of a single base station will be between 2-4 million, which will bring hundreds of billions of markets to the communication PCB.

Therefore, with the advent of the 5G wave, the local PCB industry will usher in a golden age in the next few years.

However, the feast of the autumn harvest still belongs to only a few companies.

There are particularly many companies focusing on the communication PCB market, and companies with communication boards accounting for more than 60% of their revenues include Shennan Circuits, Shanghai Electric Power Co., Ltd. and Suntec Technology.

And the best of them is Shennan Circuits. As a domestic-funded PCB leader, in recent years, Shennan Circuits has risen from 29th to 21st in the global PCB company rankings.

Shennan Circuit currently has three major businesses, printed circuit boards, package substrates, and electronic assembly. In the first half of this year, the three major businesses achieved revenues of RMB 2.299 billion, RMB 386 million, and RMB 399 million, respectively.

Shennan Circuit's development strategy is based on interconnection. While continuously strengthening the leading position of the printed circuit board business, it vigorously develops the packaging substrate business with its "roots of technology" and the electronic assembly business of "customers with the same origin".



As a domestic-funded PCB leader, the major shareholder of Shennan Circuit is AVIC, which has a great career and is born with a golden key.

In 2017, Shennan Circuit landed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and raised 1.351 billion yuan.

The major shareholder is a member of the national team. After listing, the financing has a strong advantage. The financial advantage will make him like a fish when the industry reshuffles.

For example, in recent years' environmental storms, a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises have been shut down due to substandard environmental protection.

In the first half of this year, Shennan Circuit's equipment investment and operating costs in pollution prevention facilities alone exceeded 10 million yuan.

If SMEs invest as much as Shennan Circuits in environmental protection, profits may be squeezed to almost nothing.

In addition, as the national team of the PCB industry, Shennan Circuit also undertakes technical tackling tasks.

As the main undertaking unit of the national major science and technology 02 project ("Very large scale integrated circuit manufacturing equipment and complete technology"), Shennan Circuit successfully completed the "3D high-density substrate and high-performance CPU packaging technology research and development and industrialization "The project task and high score passed the acceptance of the expert group.

In the first half of this year, Shennan Circuits invested 166 million yuan in research and development, a year-on-year increase of 17.72% and accounting for more than 5% of operating income.

At present, 268 patents have been authorized, including 244 invention patents, and the number of patents authorized ranks among the top in the industry.

For example, in the field of communication boards, the demand for PCB boards is mainly 8-16 layers of multilayer boards.

However, the current small and medium-sized companies in the industry generally have products with six or less layers. According to data disclosed by Eaton Electronics (603328), its 6-layer and lower-layer plates account for 95% of total revenue. The above circuit boards accounted for only 4.7% of revenue.

Looking at Shennan Circuits, the number of layers has been able to produce up to 100 layers, 25: 1 thick diameter, and the number of layers in mass production has also ranged from 2-68 layers.

Shennan Circuit's main customers include Huawei, ZTE, Nokia, Shanghai Bell, Samsung, Flextronics, etc., of which revenue from the communications sector exceeds 60%.

The world's four largest communications equipment manufacturers, Huawei, Ericsson, ZTE, and Nokia, won three of them.

In 2017, revenues from Huawei and ZTE accounted for 22.44% and 7.09% of the total revenue of Shennan Circuit, respectively.

It is obvious that Huawei and ZTE have expanded their voice in the 5G field. In the future, following Huawei and ZTE's footsteps, it is self-evident that the PCB industry will benefit the most from the 5G communication field.

The Shanghai Electric Power Corporation, listed behind Shennan Circuit, was founded in 1992 by Taiwan PCB entrepreneurs in Kunshan.