Taipei, Dec. 14 (CNA) The production value of Taiwanese printed circuit board (PCB) makers, including their operations in China, is expected to hit another high in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Taiwan Printed Circuit Association (TPCA) said Monday.
An estimate released by the association showed the output of Taiwanese PCB makers for 2020 will total NT$678.5 billion (US$23.85 billion), up from NT$662.4 billion recorded in 2019.
If the estimate is accurate, the output value would set a new high for the third consecutive year.
While the global economy has been battered by COVID-19, emerging 5G technologies have been pushing demand for PCBs higher to double to quadruple the demand from 4G technologies, offsetting the impact of the disease, the TPCA said.
Higher demand for high-end PCBs has largely come from infrastructure construction for 5G communications, but the sector has also benefited from strong demand from notebook and tablet computer brands amid the growing stay-at-home economy and automotive electronic devices, the TPCA said.
In the third quarter, the production value of Taiwanese PCB suppliers totaled NT$185.9 billion, little changed from a year earlier, the data showed.
But the third-quarter figure was up from NT$161.2 billion in the second quarter, the traditionally slow season for the industry, according to the TPCA.
In U.S. dollar terms, the output of Taiwanese PCB companies hit US$6.3 billion for the third quarter, up 6 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.
Peak season effects seen in the third quarter are expected to continue into the fourth quarter, the TPCA said.
Meanwhile, the share of production by these companies being done in China is edging lower.
In the third quarter, 62.5 percent of their total production was done there, down 1 percentage point from a quarter earlier as some of the businesses have invested in more capacity in Taiwan.