The printed circuit board(PCB)industry in the United States and Japan posted recession in terms of revenue in the third quarter of 2012,while that of Taiwan and mainland China registered an average 3.3%surge,according to a government-backed think thank.
The Industrial Economics&Knowledge Center(IEK)under the government-backed Industrial Technology Research Institute(ITRI)released the statistics recently.
The center estimated the PCB industry in Taiwan and the mainland would persistently grow in the fourth quarter and revenue from flexible board production is likely to surpass that generated by production of high-density interconnection(HDI)boards in the fourth quarter.
According to P.F.Jiang,a market research fellow with IEK,pointed out that PCB manufacturers have suffered hard times in 2012 as a result of delayed rollouts of new products and weak demands at their customers.
Jiang pointed out that 48%of the PCB production revenue in 2012 from Taiwan and the mainland was generated in the first half and the remaining 52%in the second half.
He estimated the PCB industry on the two sides to generate total revenue of NT$534 billion(US$18.4 billion at US$1:NT$29)in 2013,increasing 2.58%year on year.
