CCL Makers Stick to Capacity Expansion Plans

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Copper clad laminate (CCL) makers will continue their production capacity expansion projects in 2019 despite volatility in the PCB market, according to Digitimes.

Taiwan's top-three CCL makers—Taiwan Union Technology, Iteq and Elite Materials (EMC)—all have new production lines coming online in 2019. Taiwan Union's new plant in Hsinchu will kick off volume production in the second quarter of 2019 with a capacity of 300,000 sheets a month. Iteq's new plant in Jiangxi, China will come online in September, adding a new capacity of 600,000 sheets a month, while EMC is scheduled to complete its new plant in Huangshi, China in the second half of 2019 that will also come with a monthly capacity of 600,000 sheets.

However, Digitimes quoted industry sources as saying that most of the expansion projects being implemented or proposed by CCL makers in Taiwan and China were initiated previously in the wake of an overall rebound of the electronics industry that had begun two years ago, as well as the rising demand stirred up by the proliferation of new applications. But the upswing momentum of the electronics industry appears to have slowed down again recently, and sources warned that the current capacity ramps may result in oversupply in the industry.