Taiwan-based PCB players are pushing into car-use products as demand for PCs, smartphones and tablets has been weakening. Chin Poon and Tripod Technology, which have been operating in the car-use PCB market for a long time, are looking to expand their presence in the market, while newcomers including Unitech, Unimicron Technology, Global Brands Manufacture (GBM), Apex International, Zhen Ding Tech and Ichia have been trying to catch up.
With demand for smart car applications including Internet of Things (IoT), semi-auto drive, infotainment systems, around-view monitoring systems, parking sensors and portable navigation devices, growing rapidly, demand for related upstream components such as PCBs is rising, and many PCB makers are aggressively looking to grab a share of the market.
Chin Poon has been in the car-use PCB market for many years and derives over 70% of its revenues from the business. The company is expected to continue enjoying strong revenue growth in 2016.
Since car-use components require certification from car vendors, and the process usually takes more than 2-3 years, the new competitors are unlikely to become a big threat to Chin Poon in the short term.
Tripod is currently seeing its car-use PCB business contribute about 18% of revenues, and the business is also improving the company's gross margins.
Seeing dropping smartphone and tablet PCB orders and fierce price competition from competitors, Unitech has been shifting its focus to car-use PCBs and the business now contributes about 25% of its revenues. The company is expected to continue focusing on car-use applications to improve its financial status.
Although Apex is still heavily reliant on orders for consumer electronics PCBs, the company is still seeing stable operations as most orders are for entertainment products such as gambling machines. The company also recently started striving for orders for car-use PCBs and the business currently contributes about 5% of its revenues. With stable relationships, Apex's orders are expected to rise gradually and increase its revenues.
Ichia reportedly joined the supply chain of Tesla recently and has been pushing into the automotive aftermarket. Ichia's car-use PCB business currently contributes 50% of its revenues and the company is expected to turn profitable in the second quarter.
