Printed Circuit Design & Fab - September 2008 - (Page 34)

PCB Fab MarkEtS to manufacture IC substrates, but final approval from the Chinese government has taken a long time. Vertex decided to exit the PCB business in Taiwan. Its subsidiary in Suzhou, Global Flex, is listed on the Hong Kong exchange. Another Taiwan maker listed on the HKEX is notebook motherboard superstar HannStar Board. The Taiwanese government does not permit a Taiwan manufacturer to invest more than 40% of its capital into Chinese enterprises. Listing on the HKEX seems to be a way to get around this rule. There are at least a dozen mediumto-large scale Taiwanese fabricators that went out of business in the years after the IT bubble burst. Common to all of them is untimely overinvestment and lack of technologies. Ruwel AG of Germany recently decided to give rein of its Grassau plant near Munich to a Russian copper foil and laminate maker, Lamitec-Dielectra, that owns 25% of Ruwel’s competitor, FUBA PCB. The takeover of the Grassau facility by Lamitec-Dielectra creates an interesting situation. Twenty-five percent of Ruwel was owned by Bear Stearns, but now that Bear Stearns is owned by JP Morgan, the internal rule must have changed. Its much-publicized Romania venture was halted soon after its debt was assumed by Bear Stearns and two other investment funds. Recently, the Ruwel Wetter plant was subject to a management buyout. Ruwel sells 15% of its production to Japanese electronics firms operating in Europe, prompting Ruwel to exhibit at the JPCA Show for the past several years. Shye Feng is a little known Taiwanese fabricator with plants in Taiwan, China and Thailand (Apex Circuits). Until recently, the author did not know that Apex Circuit in Thailand is related with Shye Feng. The single-sided board business carries the name Shye Feng. Apex Circuits seems to be collaborating with Kyoden, a Japanese fabricator that recently purchased an ailing, yet once wellknown, Japanese maker, Airex. Airex is a classic example of makers that depend too much on one big customer. In the case of Airex, the biggest customer is NEC with nearly 80% of Airex revenue coming from sales to NEC. Kingboard Chemical (KB) is one of the largest laminate makers in the world today, together with Nan Ya Plastic, Isola and Matsushita Electric Works. It took over control of several PCB makers in China in the last several years. Kingboard has grown in leaps and bounds as a result. It controls Techwise (originally a captive shop built by Legend, now called Lenovo), Jiangmen Glory Faith, Top Faith, Elec & Eltek and a few other smaller fabrictors. KB seems to be trying to follow Nan Ya’s model, making materials and then manufacturing PCBs from these materials, creating a vertically integrated company. One big difference between KB and Nan Ya is the way they build manufacturing plants. KB’s PCB shops are acquired, while Nan Ya’s PCB shops are all built organically. Meiko Electronics of Japan has been investing “Taiwan” style in Japan and China. It is building a $350 million complex west of Hanoi, Vietnam, to produce PCBs and assemblies. It has two gigantic plants in China, one in Guangzhou, the other in Wuhan. The current combined production capacity is about five million square feet per month. It recently bought the PCB operation of Japan Victor Corp. (JVC), known for its build-up microvia board technology – liquid December 2-4, 2008 Orlando Metropolitan Resort Orlando, FL www.pcbshows.com/orlando An exciting addition to the PCB Shows portfolio of events for designers and fabricators Bringing you the best of our renowned and respected conferences and seminars to Orlando, FL Featuring • 3-day targeted technical conference • 1-day tabletop exhibition • Great networking opportunities Brought to you by 34 printEd CirCuit dESign & fAB SEPTEMBER 2008 http://www.pcbshows.com/orlando http://www.pcbshows.com/orlando http://www.pcbshows.com/orlando http://www.upmediagroup.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Printed Circuit Design & Fab - September 2008

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - August 2008 Contents Our Line Market Watch Around the World Happenings ROI Positive Plating Off the Shelf Marketplace Ad Index EMC for the Real World Final Finish Forum Design for Green: Laminates A Systematic Approach to Increasing Layer Count The NTI $100 Million Club Printable Nanocomposites BGA Bulletin

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - September 2008

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