Digital cameras driving flex: flex is still a positive--but volatile--market.

WHEN THE VOLUME production of consumer flex circuits started in Japan during the 1970s, camera manufacturers consumed more than a third of flex manufacturing capacities. The flex circuit market in Japan grew 100 times larger in the past 30 years. The camera manufacturers' flex market share became smaller, but they are still major customers for the flex circuit manufacturers.

There have been two significant changes in the camera industry in the last decade. First, digital cameras nearly took over the film camera market in the last several years. Next, camera cell phones began to proliferate. Fortunately for the flex manufacturers, new digital cameras are consuming more flex circuits and the flex manufacturers have been enjoying a growing business.

But the digital camera market is not infinite. The potential market in Japan is almost saturated: Japanese digital camera and cell phone manufacturers have been facing declining demands for the past year. Kyocera closed one facility recently, and Konica-Minolta, Olympus and Sanyo went into the red because of shrinking business and serious price reductions since last Christmas.

Accordingly, flex circuit manufacturers have experienced slow seasons recently. On the other hand, several digital camera manufacturers such as Nikon, Canon and Casio have grown their businesses. They've introduced new models to target the replacement demands of the Japanese market. Flex vendors for these camera manufacturers are still enjoying the business.

JPCA 2005

The JPCA (Japanese Printed Circuit Association) Show 2005 was held from June 1-3 at Tokyo Big Sight . The printed circuit industry in Asia has been in a downturn since last fall and some in the industry were worried there might be a low turnout. But JPCA 2005 boasted better attendance than last year's show.

The space for the exhibition was almost the same as last year: 532 companies and organizations shared 1,539 booth units. Space was very limited. JPCA counted almost 70,000 registered visitors in the first two days, and since the third day had even more visitors, the total number of visitors may top 100,000. (The JPCA numbers do not count exhibitors or multiple visits).

Even two hours before daily closing time, there were still lines at the registration desk. The floor was crowded and even at closing time it was not easy to move from booth to booth. JPCA prepared several VIP rooms, and these were always busy, except early in the morning.

I did not see many visitors from North America or Europe, other than exhibitors. But there were many visitors from Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and China. Several technical seminars were held beside the exhibition, and all were well attended.

I was able to speak with many people during the show. No one expects a quick recovery. However, companies displayed new equipment in their booths and many people were searching for the next business opportunity. And many new Asian manufacturers were looking for good Japanese engineers and many Japanese engineers were looking for good jobs.

I would say that the key words for the JPCA Show 2005 were flexible circuits, IC substrates, ultra-high-density, new materials, Rolls and Asian companies.

Headlines

TDK (a major component manufacturer in Japan) will begin volume production of the TMR device for vertical recording of next-generation disc drives in the beginning of 2006.

Godo Shigen Sangyo (a chemical company in Japan) has increased the manufacturing capacity of iodine compounds (NaI and KI) 300%, to 800 tons per year.

NOK (parent company of Nippon Mektron) will increase the development of rubber rolls of OA equipment as the next-generation business, besides flex.

Sharp (a major electronics company in Japan) has introduced the wafer-level CSP for power supply ICs and driver ICs for next-generation cell phones. The new devices can reduce SMT space by 50% and the weight by 66%.

Samsung Electronics (a major electronics company in Korea) will invest 20 trillion won in the next five years to build its eleventh and twelfth LCD manufacturing lines.

Sumitomo Chemical (a major chemical company in Japan) has agreed to found a joint venture with Cambridge Display Technology for polymer organic ELD R&D projects.

Tatsuta System Electronics (an electronic material supplier in Japan) is commercializing a new shielding film, SF-PC5000, for cell phone flex.

Nikko Kinzoku Kako (a metal material supplier in Japan) will increase its manufacturing capacity of copper products 67% to 1,000 tons per month for the lead frame and connector markets.

DOMINIQUE K. NUMAKURA is managing director of DKN Research and publisher of Electronic Packaging Technologies. He can be reached at [e-mail].