Copper Clad Laminate Market (1)

(1) The growth of global copper clad laminates is slowing down

Copper Clad Laminate (CCL) is the main material of printed circuit boards. Depending on the number of layers, it accounts for between 50% and 70% of the cost of PCB raw materials. Paper, etc.) plus impregnating resin (epoxy resin, phenolic resin, polyimide resin…), after cutting pieces, add copper foil on one or both sides, and then hot-press to form a copper foil substrate.

Copper foil substrates are divided into substrates with different characteristics according to different materials, mainly paper substrates, composite substrates, and glass fiber epoxy substrates. Paper substrates have poor strength and are low-end products. They are generally used in household appliances such as TVs and stereos. The inner film of composite substrates is impregnated with epoxy resin with insulating paper or glass fiber mats, and is also used in household appliances.

In 2006, the cumulative increase was four times that of 2000. After 2002, China’s CCL industry has shrunk contrary to the global CCL industry, and has achieved unimaginable development. It was the bursting of the Internet bubble in 2001 and the recession that continued in 2002 and 2003 that accelerated the transfer of the printed circuit board industry abroad to China. Demand has soared. Due to the fierce competition, China has become the first choice for investment in the global printed circuit board and copper clad laminate industry, and the recession in 2002 and 2003 just drove a large number of foreign companies to enter China, and also promoted the expansion of companies setting up factories in China. The result of this round of investment directly contributed to the leap development in 2004 and 2005, making China the world’s largest manufacturing place for circuit boards and copper clad laminates, completing a global adjustment of the industrial layout of copper clad laminates.

The formation of this pattern has promoted the development of the industry.

(2) Material cost composition of CCL

The glass fiber epoxy substrate is impregnated and pressed with epoxy resin, glass fiber cloth and copper foil, including G-10, FR-4, FR-5, etc. Among them, FR-4 is the largest in the copper foil substrate industry in terms of output and demand. FR-4 substrates are widely used in computer components and peripheral equipment, such as motherboards , hard disk drives and other products used in printed circuit boards are made of FR-4 substrate processing.

Take ordinary TG4mil core board (thin board) as an example:

Raw materials account for 80%, water, electricity and others, labor, and depreciation are 8%, 8%, and 4% respectively. Subdivided into raw materials, copper foil accounts for 63% of production costs, glass cloth accounts for 10% of production costs, and resin accounts for 7 of production costs %. It can be seen that the increase in the price of raw materials, especially the price of copper, has a great impact on the copper clad laminate.

Since the beginning of 2006, the price of raw material copper has risen significantly, which has seriously affected the profitability of copper foil and copper clad laminates, thereby affecting the entire PCB industry chain, resulting in a decline in the investment enthusiasm of downstream enterprises. Enterprises began to consider the development from specialization to vertical integration to reduce the risk of rising raw material costs.