Substrate-Like PCB Market worth $2.6 Bn by 2024

Thursday 17 January 2019, Amsterdam

The substrate-like PCB market is expected to grow from USD 1.1 billion in 2018 to USD 2.6 billion by 2024, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.6% during the forecast period. The high adoption of SLPs by leading OEMs, surge in demand for smart consumer electronics and wearable devices, and impactful benefits of SLP are a few major factors driving the growth of the substrate-like PCB market.

Line space of 25/25 & 30/30 µm to hold major share of substrate-like PCB market during forecast period
Line space of 25/25 & 30/30 µm is expected to hold the largest market share for the SLP market based on the line/space segment. Most of the consumer electronics devices, such as smart bands, smartphones, and fitness trackers, are battery operated and demand for more battery capacity. To increase the battery capacity, the size of the PCB should be compromised. To achieve this, SLPs can be implemented, and the line/space can be reduced to 25/25 µm or 30/30 µm. Therefore, smartphone manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung are using SLPs, which can subsequently allow using larger batteries. Due to the more detailed, smaller area, SLPs can set aside more space for other components. Earlier, HDI PCBs required line/space of 50/50 µm, but due to the use of mSAP, line/space of up to 25 µm can be achieved.

Consumer electronics application to dominate substrate-like PCB market during forecast period
The consumer electronics application is expected to hold the largest market share of the substrate-like PCB market. Consumer electronics includes smartphones, tablets, smart bands, fitness bands, wearables, and others. Increasing demand for consumer electronics expected to provide opportunities to players in the SLP market. Due to the increasing power consumption in consumer electronics applications, batteries need to get bigger, while boards need to get smaller; SLP is seen as an element that can satisfy both the conditions simultaneously. Moreover, with the adoption of 5G, there is a requirement for advanced PCBs, which is expected to propel the SLP market growth in the coming years. There will be more space for the battery with the use of SLP in a smartphone as SLP will allow for thinner connections between key components such as the DRAM, NAND flash memory, and application processor. With the use of SLP, the number of layers can be increased, thereby reducing the board area and width by 30% compared to the existing one. Major SLP suppliers include Kinsus, Ibiden, Compeq, Unimicron, AT&S. ZD Techand Samsung Electro-Mechanics.

APAC to hold major share of substrate-like PCB market by 2024
APAC is an emerging market for substrate-like PCBs. APAC is expected to hold the largest size of the substrate-like PCB market during the forecast period due to the high adoption of SLP-based products in consumer electronics such as smartphones, and strong presence of major smartphone players such as Samsung, Huawei, Oppo, and Vivio in this region. APAC has become a global focal point for large investments and business expansion opportunities. More than 50% of the global mobile subscribers live in APAC—mostly in China and India. There has been a paradigm shift of users from 3G to 4G technology in this region. Asian markets are encouraging the development of 5G mobile technologies with commercial deployments planned in South Korea in 2019, and Japan and China in 2020.

AT&S (Austria);  TTM Technologies (US); Samsung Electro-Mechanics (South Korea); Korea Circuit (South Korea); Kinsus Interconnect Technology (Taiwan); Zhen Ding Technology (Taiwan); Unimicron (Taiwan); Compeq (Taiwan); Ibiden (Japan); Daeduck Electronics (South Korea); ISU Petasys (South Korea); Tripod Technology Corporation (Taiwan); LG Innotek (South Korea) are major players in the substrate-like PCB market.