The big get bigger: the largest PCB fabricators in Japan and Taiwan stretched their leads in 2005.It is the time of year that we compile To translate a program written in a high-level programming language into machine language. See compiler. the annual list of the world's largest PCB PCB: see polychlorinated biphenyl. PCB in full polychlorinated biphenyl Any of a class of highly stable organic compounds prepared by the reaction of chlorine with biphenyl, a two-ring compound. manufacturers. As noted in the past, with each year it gets harder to collect accurate data on bare board sales: As (many) fabricators of flexible circuits become more engaged in assembly, it gets increasingly difficult to separate the assembly sales from that of the bare boards. Therefore, it is unavoidable that the data collected, particularly from flex makers, are on occasion ambiguous. There are quite a number of "duplications" in the data of the Taiwanese fabricators as they expand their production in China. A similar situation prevails for Japanese Japanese (jăp'ənēz`), language of uncertain origin that is spoken by more than 125 million people, most of whom live in Japan. There are also many speakers of Japanese in the Ryukyu Islands, Korea, Taiwan, parts of the United States, and fabricators. In 2005, there was too much ambiguity Ambiguity Delphic oracle ultimate authority in ancient Greece; often speaks in ambiguous terms. [Gk. Hist.: Leach, 305] Iseult’s vow pledge to husband has double meaning. [Arth. among PCB makers with annual revenues of less than $100 million. To prevent errors with the report these companies have not been included in the rankings. The decision was made that the 2005 rankings include only those firms with annual revenues of $100 million or more. There were 93 such PCB makers last year, up two from 2004. (With so much expansion in the Asia Pacific, however, this number may soon exceed 100, and next year's list may have to be changed to the NTI-100+.) The author would like to thank all the PCB makers that generously contributed data to make this report possible. I take total responsibility for any errors. Where necessary, revenues have been converted to U.S. dollars. The exchange rates used were: Japan: 110 yen Korea Korea (kôrē`ə, kə–), Korean Hanguk or Choson, region and historic country (85,049 sq mi/220,277 sq km), E Asia. : 1024 won China: 8.1 RMB RMB Right Mouse Button RMB Regional Management Board (USACE) RMB Rolf Maier Bode (musician, band) RMB Ren Min Bi (currency of People's Republic of China) Taiwan Taiwan (tī`wän`), Portuguese Formosa, officially Republic of China, island nation (2005 est. pop. 22,894,000), 13,885 sq mi (35,961 sq km), in the Pacific Ocean, separated from the mainland of S China by the 100-mi-wide (161-km) Taiwan : NT$32.5 Europe Europe (y  r`əp), 6th largest continent, c.4,000,000 sq mi (10,360,000 sq km) including adjacent islands (1992 est. pop. 512,000,000). : 0.84 euros
TABLE 1 lists the PCB fabricators that generated revenues of $100 million or more in 2005. As mentioned, the assembly portion of flex circuits See flexible circuit. has been eliminated where possible, but the occasional ambiguity exists and interpretation of the data is left to the discretion of the reader. Once again this year Japan had the largest number of entries, with 34, followed by Taiwan with 25. The U.S. came third with 13 entries over $100 million is revenues. FIGURES 1 and 2 show the number of entries and the total output by representative makers in each region. It is often said that in many industries 20% of manufacturers supply 80% of the products. Is this applicable to the PCB industry? In 2005 a total of $42.1 billion worth of boards were produced worldwide. The top 93 fabricators built 70% of that total (TABLE 2). Moreover, the top PCB-producing regions were responsible for 99% of the world's output. The Top 93 fabricators (3.3% of estimated number of PCB manufacturers in the world) with revenues of $100 million or more produced a combined $29.6 billion worth of PCBs last year. That accounts for about 70% of the world output. There are approximately ap·prox·i·mate adj. 1. Almost exact or correct: the approximate time of the accident. 2. 50 fabricators with revenues between $50 million and $100 million and, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. this author's investigation, whose revenue adds up to about $3.6 billion. This makes the total output by the top 145 fabricators (4.8%) to be about $33.2 billion, or about 72% of the world output. If we extend the number of fabricators to include the top 300--about 10% of the world's fabricators--the total revenue produced is estimated to reach more than 90%. Hence, as far as the PCB industry today is concerned, the 20/80 rule doesn't does·n't Contraction of does not. apply. Instead it is really the "10/90 rule," as in 10% of the manufacturers produce 90% of the value of the product. There are quite a number of exceptions, particularly among Taiwanese fabricators, but by and large the trend is that the big makers get bigger ever year. In 2000 when the IT bubble A bit in bubble memory or a symbol in a bubble chart. peaked, seven U.S.-based fabricators resided among the top 20, with Sanmina-SCI on top with $1.53 billion in revenue, followed by Viasystems Group with $1.25 billion. The other five companies were all in upper positions. With time, the situation has completely changed. Last year, only three U.S.-based makers were ranked in the top 20, all in lower positions. Viasystems now derives all its revenue from China. At Multek, 85% of its revenue comes from China and this percentage is increasing. Innovex has moved almost all its production to its subsidiaries in Thailand Thailand (tī`lănd, –lənd), Thai Prathet Thai [land of the free], officially Kingdom of Thailand, constitutional monarchy (2005 est. pop. 65,444,000), 198,455 sq mi (514,000 sq km), Southeast Asia. . Parlex has been bought and is no longer based in the U.S. Maybe we should no longer classify clas·si·fy tr.v. clas·si·fied, clas·si·fy·ing, clas·si·fies 1. To arrange or organize according to class or category. 2. To designate (a document, for example) as confidential, secret, or top secret. these fabricators as U.S. companies! Financial Performance Revenue is one thing, financial performance is another. TABLE 3 shows the financial performance of select NTI-listed fabricators based on their financial disclosures. This author selected these makers solely on the basis that the data were relatively easy to obtain. After-tax af·ter-tax also af·ter·tax adj. Relating to or being that which remains after payment, especially of income taxes: after-tax profits. (AT) profit depends on tax credits. For many Taiwanese makers, AT profit is larger than operating profits Operating profit (or loss) Revenue from a firm's regular activities less costs and expenses and before income deductions. operating profit See operating income. . This phenomenon is beyond the comprehension comprehension Act of or capacity for grasping with the intellect. The term is most often used in connection with tests of reading skills and language abilities, though other abilities (e.g., mathematical reasoning) may also be examined. of this author. Many PCB fabricators lament that profits are elusive, but as the table shows some companies make very respectable AT profits. Note that Ibiden, Nippon Nippon (nĭp`ŏn, nĭpŏn`), name for Japan, derived from Dai Nippon, meaning Great Japan. The expression comes from the Chinese ideograph for the place where the sun comes from, or Land of the Rising Sun. Mektron and Shinko Electric Industries are part of larger organizations and in each case the PCB segment of the business outperformed the company as a unit. It is interesting to note that many privately owned Japanese makers show rather poor profit, if any. Since the tax rate is very high, above 40% normally, they often write off as much equipment as allowed by law and distribute a certain amount of profit to the employees under the label of "special bonuses." Income taxes paid by individuals are much lower than the corporate rate, resulting in savings. At the same time, these special bonuses boost employee moral. Hence, in the case of privately owned firms in Japan, a straightforward interpretation of financial reports can be misleading. The Japanese continue to invest to the tune of $2.3 billion to $2.5 billion over the 2006-07 timeframe. More than 30 Taiwanese PCB fabricators are expanding in China despite fears of overcapacity o·ver·ca·pac·i·ty n. Too great a capacity for production of commodities or delivery of services in relation to actual need: the problem of overcapacity in many large industries. . Their estimated total investment: more than $1 billion. These investments, coupled with their current lead, mean Japan and Taiwan are bound to hold a larger share of the top rankings in the years to come. A major driver for growth is microvia technologies in cellphone (CELLular telePHONE) The first ubiquitous wireless telephone. Originally analog, all new cellular systems are digital, which has enabled the cellphone to turn into a smartphone that has access to the Internet. motherboards and package substrates, both of which are growing at rates of 50% more than that of PCBs as a whole. All the fastest-growing companies are involved in at least in one of these two areas, many in both. Sales of Taiwanese exchange-listed fabricators grew 37% in Taiwan in the first six months of this year. May and June June: see month. were a bit slow, but it appears business will get stronger in the second half. PCB demand is also strong in Japan, thanks to new cellphone business and continuing export of high-end high-end adj. Informal 1. Appealing to sophisticated and discerning customers: a high-end department store; high-end video equipment. 2. digital cameras, flat-screen flat-screen adj → de pantalla plana flat-screen adj → à écran plat flat-screen adj → a schermo piatto TVs, games, automotive electronics and a host of other electronics. Hence, the share of PCB manufacturers in these two countries continues to grow. It is possible that at least seven fabricators may top $1 billion in sales in 2006: Ibiden, Nippon Mektron, CMK CMK Consumer & Market Knowledge CMK C. M. Kornbluth (Lemony Snicket) , Shinko Electric, Samsung Electro-Mechanics  This article or section is written like an .Please help [ rewrite this article] from a neutral point of view. Mark blatant advertising for , using . , Unimicron and Nanya PCB. DR. HAYAO NAKAHARA is president of NT Information and consulting editor to PCD&M. He can be reached at nakanti@yahoo.com.
TABLE 1. 2005 NTI 100
RANK/MAKER NATIONALITY 2005 2004
1 Ibiden Japan 1,444 1,226
2 Nippon Mektron * Japan 1,135 1,020
3 CMK Japan 1,084 1,055
4 Shinko Electric Japan 967 867
5 Samsung E-M Korea 957 872
6 Unimicron Taiwan 930 829
7 Nanya PCB Taiwan 839 566
8 Young Poon Group Korea 700 667
9 KB PCB Group Hong Kong 694 580
10 Daeduck Group Korea 654 559
11 Fujikura Corp * Japan 645 555
12 Multek USA 620 450
13 Compeq Taiwan 606 512
14 Hitachi Chemical Japan 586 620
15 LG Electronics Korea 488 441
16 Tripod Taiwan 466 312
17 Viasystems USA 465 482
18 Sanmina-SCI USA 460 420
19 Wus Taiwan 454 420
20 AT&S Austria 440 361
21 MMM-3M * USA 400 375
22 Toppan-NEC Japan 377 315
23 Meiko Electronics Japan 367 335
24 Gold Circuit Taiwan 365 340
25 Micro Circuit System * Japan 363 315
26 Panasonic ED Japan 345 340
27 Tyco PCB USA 340 375
28 Kyoden Group Japan 336 321
29 PPT Taiwan 324 177
30 Merix USA 315 174
31 Nitto Denko * Japan 301 280
32 MGC Group Japan 297 257
33 Global Brands Taiwan 294 189
Manufacture Group
34 Broad Technology Taiwan 280 240
35 Fujitsu Interconnect Japan 268 214
36 Meadville Technology Hong Kong 268 245
37 Chin Poon Taiwan 262 235
38 HannStar PCB Taiwan 261 163
39 Sumitomo PCB * Japan 258 241
40 Career * Taiwan 252 210
41 M-Flex * USA 246 145
42 TTM Technologies USA 240 241
43 Unitech Taiwan 236 305
44 Simmtech Korea 224 145
45 Daisho Denshi Japan 220 240
46 Elna Japan 212 218
47 Dynamic Taiwan 210 125
48 Vertex Taiwan 208 193
49 Topsearch Hong Kong 205 169
50 Ruwel Germany 205 193
51 Kinsus Taiwan 204 140
52 Sumitomo Bakelite Japan 200 210
53 Hutchinson * USA 200 155
54 Shindo Denshi * Japan 195 200
55 Yashin Taiwan 192 198
56 Hitachi Cable* Japan 191 170
57 Aspocomp Finland 188 168
58 Shirai Denshi Japan 186 175
59 ISU Group Korea 185 145
60 Foxconn Group Taiwan 183 120
61 ASE Taiwan 182 180
62 KCE Thailand 178 138
63 APCB Taiwan 177 112
64 MFS Singapore 175 196
65 Sumitomo Metal ED Japan 174 165
66 Kyocera SLC Japan 173 148
67 Shinko Mfg. Japan 168 164
68 NTK Japan 164 150
69 Innovex * USA 160 120
70 Photocircuits USA 160 220
71 Sony Chemical * Japan 150 219
72 DDi USA 148 150
73 Wuerth Electronics Germany 147 117
74 SI Flex * Korea 145 147
75 Eastern Japan 144 125
76 Yu Fo Taiwan 129 79
77 Arrk PCB Group Japan 128 111
78 Kyosha Japan 127 138
79 CCTC China 125 108
80 Plotech Taiwan 121 102
81 Casio Micro-Elect Japan 120 115
82 Biloda Taiwan 120 75
83 Maruwa Mfg. * Japan 118 109
84 Sanwa Electric Japan 118 115
85 Yamamoto Mfg. Japan 116 114
86 T.P.T. Taiwan 115 96
87 Redboard Hong Kong 114 78
88 Ellington Hong Kong 110 108
89 Cosmotech Korea 110 97
90 MEW Group Japan 107 97
91 Fuba Germany 106 107
92 Shye Fang Group Taiwan 101 88
93 EIT USA 100 130
Top 93 Total 29,567 26,028
RANK/MAKER COMMENTS
1 Ibiden 2006/2007 PCB investment: $327M
2 Nippon Mektron * Total including assembly: $1,409M
3 CMK New plant in Thailand and
expanded in China
4 Shinko Electric Growing by 10-15%
5 Samsung E-M Emphasis on substrates and microvias
6 Unimicron Production in China >$300M and growing
7 Nanya PCB IC substrate business growing;
may hit $1.1B in 2006
8 Young Poon Group $460M in flex
9 KB PCB Group E&E, Techwise, Glory Faith and Top Faith
10 Daeduck Group New IC substrate factory;
Philippines doing well
11 Fujikura Corp * Total including assembly: $782M
12 Multek Two plants added in China
13 Compeq Shipped 143M cellphone boards
14 Hitachi Chemical Japan, Singapore, Taiwan
15 LG Electronics Emphasis on microvias and high
layer-counts
16 Tripod King of memory cards and LCD cards
17 Viasystems Dutch, Canadian plants closed
18 Sanmina-SCI Expanded China facility and
up to 18 layers
19 Wus Microvia and high layer-count MLBs
20 AT&S 2d Shanghai microvia plant operational
21 MMM-3M * Mystery maker always
22 Toppan-NEC IC substrate business will
quadruple in 2006
23 Meiko Electronics New Wuhan plant operational and
2d Wuhan plant planned
24 Gold Circuit 2d China plant in Changshu; high-
layer-count PCBs in Taiwan
25 Micro Circuit System * King of chip-on-flex is expanding
26 Panasonic ED Merging with Yamanashi MEW on Oct. 1
27 Tyco PCB Sold Spanish subsidiary (Microser)
28 Kyoden Group Japan and Thailand, associates in China
29 PPT Now heavily into plastic flip-chip
substrate
30 Merix China subsidiary started to do well
31 Nitto Denko * Spent $150M; an additional $150M to go
32 MGC Group Owns Japan Circuit Industry and Tai Hong
33 Global Brands Three plants in China
Manufacture Group
34 Broad Technology Three plants in Gunzgzhou
35 Fujitsu Interconnect Expanding in both Japan and Vietnam
36 Meadville Technology Microvia plant under construction
37 Chin Poon Minority share in Draco and
ACP Electronics
38 HannStar PCB 30% of world notebook motherboards
39 Sumitomo PCB * Japan, Philippines and China
40 Career * Now, China operation is bigger
41 M-Flex * Paying $500M for MFS; total $410M in '05
42 TTM Technologies Growing by 15%; average layer count >20
43 Unitech Did poorly in 2005, but now growing
44 Simmtech IC substrate business is the
growth engine
45 Daisho Denshi Just built IC substrate plant ($135M)
46 Elna Japan and Malaysia
47 Dynamic Kunshan plant expanding: China >Taiwan
48 Vertex China subsidiary is Global Flex in Suzhou
49 Topsearch New plant in Shaoguan is now running full
50 Ruwel Bought by Bear Stearns; new Romania plant
51 Kinsus Big step into flip-chip substrate;
new plant
52 Sumitomo Bakelite Japan and Vietnam (60%)
53 Hutchinson * HOD suspension
54 Shindo Denshi * Investing heavily in CoF
55 Yashin Hardly any production in Taiwan
56 Hitachi Cable* Investing in new CoF plant
57 Aspocomp Building microvia plant in India
(75M [euro])
58 Shirai Denshi 85% comes from PCB business, AOI
59 ISU Group One of largest suppliers to Cisco
60 Foxconn Group Big plants in Shenzhen and Yantai
61 ASE Recovered from fire in Chung Li plant
62 KCE >50% goes to automotive electronics
63 APCB Second China plant (Kunshan) finished
64 MFS Sold to M-Flex
65 Sumitomo Metal ED Japan and Malaysia (IC substrate)
66 Kyocera SLC New Ayabe plant in full swing
67 Shinko Mfg. Flat
68 NTK Investing $273M on IC substrate plant
69 Innovex * Moved all manufacturing to Thailand
70 Photocircuits Bought by American Pacific Corp.
71 Sony Chemical * Japan rigid board, China flex
72 DDi Stable under new management
73 Wuerth Electronics Best performing German maker
74 SI Flex * Third largest flex maker in Korea
75 Eastern >90% comes from IC substrates
76 Yu Fo China operation larger than Taiwan
77 Arrk PCB Group Owns Clover Electronics, Satosen
and Nippon Micron
78 Kyosha Closed Mexico operation last year
79 CCTC The largest "Chinese" maker
80 Plotech China sales greater than Taiwan
81 Casio Micro-Elect Reel-to-reel tape CoF and BGA
82 Biloda Captive shop to a motherboard assembler
83 Maruwa Mfg. * Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and China
84 Sanwa Electric Four group members were consolidated
85 Yamamoto Mfg. Japan and Dongguan, China
86 T.P.T. Growing rapidly
87 Redboard Somewhat in trouble
88 Ellington Not very accessible
89 Cosmotech Korea and Dongguan, China
90 MEW Group Merging with Panasonic ED on
Oct. 1, 2006
91 Fuba Crawled out of Chapter 11
92 Shye Fang Group Taiwan, Thailand and China
93 EIT Shift from computer to military
Top 93 Total Top 93 makers grew 12%
TABLE 2. NTI-100 Regional PCB Output, 2005
SALES/
REGION TOTAL TOP SHARE TOP
SALES * FABRICATORS ** (%) REPRESENT ***
Japan 13,900 11,839 85.2 12.0
Taiwan 9,030 7,501 83.1 19.2
U.S. 6,210 3,854 62.1 2.8
Korea 4,650 3,463 74.5 10.0
China 3,983 1,516 38.1 0.7
Europe 3,646 1,086 29.8 13.0
ASEAN 690 353 51.2 3.3
Total 42,109 29,612 70.0 3.3
* Includes domestic and overseas production
** Total output by NTI-listed fabricators and share
held by these companies.
*** Percentage of NTI-listed fabricators in the
respective region (e.g.: Japan 34/280 = 12%)
In US$ millions. Source: N.T. Information Ltd.
TABLE 3. Financial Comparison of Select Companies
COST OF GROSS OPERATING AT PROFIT
GOODS MARGIN PROFIT ON NET
FABRICATOR SOLD (%) (%) (%) SALES (%)
Ibiden 74.5 25.5 13.6 8.6
Nippon Mektron 76.2 23.8 11.1 6.5
CMK 83.4 16.6 8.9 4.7
Shinko Electric 82.2 17.8 17.9 10.4
Meiko 87.0 13.0 12.3 9.6
Nanya PCB 79.5 20.6 16.1 16.6
PPT 72.9 77.1 20.8 18.2
Kinsus 65.0 35.0 27.4 27.9
Unimicron 78.5 21.5 14.8 14.6
Tripod 86.0 14.0 6.8 17.9
Dynamic 76.3 23.7 18.2 12.3
HannStar 88.3 11.7 2.6 23.6
TTM 77.6 22.4 12.8 8.2
AT&S 83.6 16.4 7.0 7.6
Source: Company financial statements; calculations by
N.T. Information Ltd.
FIGURE 1. Number of entries in NTI rankings, by region (% of
list in parentheses).
ASEAN (2/2%)
Japan (34/36.5%)
Taiwan (25/27%)
U.S. (13/14%)
Korea (8/8.7%)
HK/China (6/6.4%)
Europe (5/5.4%)
Note: Table made from pie chart.
FIGURE 2. 2005 PCB revenues and share, by region ($M).
ASEAN 353 (1.2%)
Japan 11,839 (40%)
Taiwan 7,501 (25.3%)
U.S. 3,854 (13%)
Korea 3,463 (11.7%)
HK/China 1,516 (5.1%)
Europe 1,086 (3.7%)
Note: Table made from pie chart.
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