What are the raw materials of PCB industry? What is the situation of PCB industry chain?

PCB industry raw materials mainly include glass fiber yarn, copper foil, copper clad board, epoxy resin, ink, wood pulp, etc. Copper clad board is made of copper foil, epoxy resin, glass fiber yarn and other raw materials. In PCB operating costs, raw material costs account for a large proportion, about 60-70%.

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The PCB industry chain from top to bottom is “raw materials — substrate — PCB application”. The upstream materials include copper foil, resin, glass fiber cloth, wood pulp, ink, copper ball, etc. Copper foil, resin and glass fiber cloth are the three main raw materials. Middle base material mainly refers to copper clad plate, can be divided into rigid copper clad plate and flexible copper clad plate, which rigid copper clad plate can be further divided into paper based copper clad plate, composite material based copper clad plate and glass fiber cloth based copper clad plate according to the reinforced material; The downstream is the application of all kinds of PCB, and the industrial chain from top to bottom industry concentration degree decreases successively.

Schematic diagram of PCB industry chain

Upstream: Copper foil is the most important raw material for the manufacture of copper clad plates, accounting for about 30% (thick plate) and 50% (thin plate) of the cost of copper clad plates.The price of copper foil depends on the price change of copper, which is greatly affected by the international copper price. Copper foil is a cathodic electrolysis material, precipitated on the base layer of the circuit board, as a conductive material in PCB, it plays a role in conducting and cooling. Fiberglass cloth is also one of the raw materials for copper-clad panels. It is woven from glass fiber yarn and accounts for about 40% (thick plate) and 25% (thin plate) of the cost of copper-clad panels. Fiberglass cloth in PCB manufacturing as reinforcement material plays a role in increasing strength and insulation, in all kinds of fiberglass cloth, synthetic resin in PCB manufacturing is mainly used as a binder to glue the fiberglass cloth together.

Copper foil production industry concentration is high, industry leading bargaining power. The electrolytic copper foil is mainly of PCB production use, the technological process of electrolytic copper foil, strict processing, capital and technology barriers, has been consolidated industry concentration degree is higher, the global production of copper foil top ten manufacturers occupy 73%, of the copper foil industry’s bargaining power is stronger, the upstream raw materials of copper prices to move down. The price of copper foil affects the price of copper clad plate, and then causes the price change of circuit board downward.

Glass fiber index star rising trend

Midstream of industry: Copper clad plate is the core base material of PCB manufacturing. Copper clad have baptized reinforced material with organic resin, one side or two sides covered with copper foil, via hot pressing and become a kind of plate material, for the (PCB), conductive, insulation, support three big functions, special laminated board is a kind of special in PCB manufacturing, copper clad 20% ~ 40% of the cost of the whole PCB production, of all the PCB material costs accounted for the highest, Fiberglass fabric substrate is the most common type of copper-clad plate, made of fiberglass fabric as reinforcement material and epoxy resin as binder.

Downstream of industry: the growth rate of traditional applications is slowing down, while emerging applications will become growth points. The growth rate of traditional APPLICATIONS in PCB downstream is slowing down, while in emerging applications, with the continuous improvement of automobile electronization, the large-scale construction of 4G and the future development of 5G drive the construction of communication base station equipment, automobile PCB and communication PCB will become new growth points in the future.