International Electronic Business 7, research institutions in the local time on Wednesday (5) released a report results show that the ABF carrier board industry in the first quarter of 2023 into the trough, recession is obvious. However, it is expected that in the second half of 2023, driven by PCs, notebooks, and servers, the ABF carrier board industry is hopeful of getting out of the downward trend and seeing a recovery in demand.
Counterpoint noted in its report that AI and advanced packaging technologies are long-term growth drivers for high-end ABF substrate demand, but oversupply in the mid- to low-end ABF substrate market remains a concern.
Demand for BT substrates is still suffering due to limited prospects for smartphone recovery, but early signs of a bottoming out are emerging, the agency noted.
The three Chinese and Taiwanese chip carrier board makers, Unimicron, Kingmaker and Nanya, all suffered above-expectation declines in the first and second quarters, although Unimicron said the situation improved at the end of the second quarter due to demand for high-end carrier boards boosted by Intel's Sapphire Rapids and AMD's Epyc Genoa server processors.
The oversupply in the low-end and mid-end ABF carrier board market is still a concern, as the high-end carrier boards account for a relatively small share, and applications from AI and HPC will not give much help in the short term. On the other hand, globally renowned ABF carrier board suppliers such as Ibiden and Xinxing Electronics are expanding their ABF carrier board production capacity, triggering concerns about long-term oversupply of low- and mid-end products.
Counterpoint said that the BT resin carrier board industry, is showing signs of recovery. These are mostly used in smartphones and storage products, and demand has been weak since 2022. Demand for TV SoCs has improved since the fourth quarter of 2022. Inventory adjustment for smartphones will continue for some time as demand remains weak due to slower than expected recovery in the Android phone market.
The organization expects that it will take at least until the end of the fourth quarter of 2023 for the recovery of smartphone demand to have a positive impact on the demand for BT carrier boards.
