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A Look at the High-speed Interconnect Market
June 13, 2005 |Estimated reading time: 1 minute
NASHUA, N.H. — The high-speed interconnect market continues to heat up in Asia, notes a recent joint executive briefing meeting of Quantum Performance Group and BPA. Japan's flexible circuit makers can produce a 25-µm line and space single-sided flexible circuitry with a yield of more than 80%, with the majority of these targeting chip-on-flex (COF) applications. In "Next-generation Systems — The Demand and Driving Forces for Innovative Interconnects," it was noted that the demand for COF-use flexible PCBs in Taiwan will increase this year as local LCD-driver IC makers speed their migration from TCP tape-carrier packaging to the COF packaging process. This process is expected to exceed 50% in 2005, an increase from 30% last year. It's interesting to note, however, that about 90% of Taiwan's COF-use flexible PCBs are imported from Japan. Despite this importation anomaly, it seems that most major Japanese and Western PWB material and equipment suppliers have established a manufacturing, licensed or joint-venture operation in Taiwan and/or China. Many also have begun R&D operations in the Far East.
The groups predict many domestic suppliers and fabricators will continue to disappear, or be folded into other operations. Some may even move to Asia. The key to survival, claim the consultants, is to maintain a global footprint and a broad technology base.
Other topics covered during the meeting included:
High-speed Interconnect Technology and Market Trends Worldwide Manufacturing Challenges and Opportunities in High-speed Interconnects Flex and flex-rigid Printed Circuits Successful Flexible and Flex-rigid Circuit Protection — A Black Art? The Future Structure and Strategic Implications for Players in the Interconnect Supply IndustriesSmaller, thinner, tighter and finer were among the trends noted in the next-generation interconnect market. Others trends include higher layer counts, larger formats, lower costs and new dielectric materials. The automotive industry also is surfacing as a viable market for flex circuits in applications such as seat sensors, RFIDs, disk drives and thin dielectrics. Next-generation flex circuits will continue to increase in functionality, moving into embedded passives on flexible substrates, embedded actives on passive substrates, optical circuits on flexible substrates, RF modules with flexible substrates and flexible display technology. For more information on these and other trends, please visit www.quantumperformance.com, or www.bpa.org.
―Michelle M. Boisvert