Integrated Circuit Substrate Industry (FOWLP) 2015 Analysis for Global and China Markets

DALLAS, March 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

SiP packaging substrate will be the highlight for IC substrate market in 2015 as core components of high-end smart watches must adopt SiP packaging, both the two core processors built in Apple Watch use SiP packaging technology says this latest market research report.

IC substrate industry may be in a predicament in 2015, rooted in two aspects: first, the maturing of FOWLP; second, the tablet sales decline and sluggish smartphone growth. In addition, the prosperity of IC substrate industry in 2013 stimulated large-scale expansion of enterprises in 2014, thus leading to an insufficient rate of capacity utilization.

For FC-CSP substrate with mobile phone and tablet PC as the core market facing strong competition from FOWLP that has overwhelming superiorities including low profile, higher speed, more I/O, higher integration, less processing step, especially needing no substrate which slashes cost as IC substrate accounts for more than half of the total cost of IC.

Although it is in its infancy without obvious cost advantage, FOWLP has been an irresistible trend, the traditional FC-CSP substrate will have to reduce the price to enter a competition, and the demand for the latter will be sharply reduced by more than 60% once FOWLP matures. So in 2015, FC-CSP substrate vendors have to substantially reduce the price to gain market advantage in advance. It is expected that in 2015 the IC substrate market will encounter a 7% scale-down to USD7.12 billion.

In the downstream market, large screen mobile phone squeezed the living space of tablet PC which declined significantly. And the single-functional tablet PC is mostly used as a toy for children with less demand for replacement. In the field of smartphone, China as the world's largest smartphone market declined in 2014.

The most important SiP substrate of Apple Watch calls for the most difficult production, priced 4-5 times higher than FCCSP applied to general ARM processor. The orders are shared by Nanya, Kinsus and other Taiwanese vendors. ASE undertakes Apple Watch's SI chip SiP packaging business.

The PC market is also likely to recover in 2015 for tablet PC slump means the recovery of laptop computer market. Laptop computer market saw the first growth in 2014 after three consecutive years of decline and is expected to continue the trend in 2015. And laptop discrete graphics card accounts for a zooming proportion, signifying GPU shipments boost. Another excellent performer in IC substrate applications is the memory market. Place a direct purchase order of this report (Global and China IC Substrate Industry Report, 2015 (Prices start at US $ 2200 for a single user PDF) @ http://www.chinamarketresearchreports.com/contacts/purchase.php?name=115024 .

IC Substrate Vendors
Unimicron, IBIDEN, Daeduck Electronics, SIMMTECH, LG INNOTEK, SEMCO, Nan Ya PCB, KINSUS, SHINKO, KYOCERA SLC, AT&S, ACCESS, EASTERN

IC Substrate Packaging Companies
ASE, AMKOR, SPIL, STATS ChipPAC, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, AJINOMOTO

The global IC substrate industry market scale is expected to grow at a rate of 9.8% in 2014, and then speed up to 11.6% in 2015.

IC substrate industry falls into three camps i.e. Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Japanese companies as the IC substrate pioneer have the strongest technical strength, mastering the most profitable CPU substrate. Korean and Taiwanese companies rely on the industrial chain cooperation, the former hold about 70% of the world's memory capacity, the Apple's processor foundry provider Samsung also can produce part of mobile phone chips.

Global and China IC Substrate Industry Report, 2014-2015 says Taiwanese companies are more powerful in the industrial chain by possessing 65% of global foundry production capacity and 80% of senior mobile phone chip foundry (by TSMC or UMC), whose margin is much higher than that of traditional electronic products, (gross margin) exceeding 50%. MediaTek's MT6592, for instance, the foundry is charged by TSMC or UMC, the packaging is completed by ASE and SPIL, the substrate is offered by Kinsus and testing by KYEC; sharing the same factory, these vendors are pretty high-efficient.

The utterly disadvantaged Mainland Chinese companies in the industrial chain lack support from foundries and packaging companies, lagging behind Taiwanese counterparts several even a dozen years. Even Hisilicon and Spreadtrum have impressive shipments, Taiwanese companies still hold the discourse right of the supply chain.

PCB (printed circuit board) industry can be divided into three broad categories i.e. rigid PCB, flexible PCB (FPCB) and substrate. IC substrate industry suffered a continuous decline in 2012 and 2013, rooted in two aspects: first, the PC shipment declined, and CPU substrate as the main type of IC substrate enjoyed the highest average selling price (ASP); second, to suppress the development of Japanese and Taiwanese IC substrate vendors, Korean companies slashed price, Samsung Electro-Mechanics (SEMCO), in particular, implemented a nearly 30% price cut. This led to the global IC substrate industry market scale down 10.3% to USD7.568 billion in 2013. But after suffering comes happiness, IC substrate industry is expected to bloom in 2014 and 2015.

There are several factors for the growth in 2014. 

• First, MediaTek's 8-core MT6592 adopts FC-CSP packaging. Released in October 2013, the chip will see shipment boost-up in 2014. Entering the age of 28nm, MediaTek will ensure uniform adoption of FC-CSP packaging; Spreadtrum from Mainland China will follow in its footsteps.
• Second, LTE 4G networks are under construction, thereof IC substrate is needed by BASESTATION chip.
• Third, wearable devices are invading the market, which will stimulate SiP module packaging, also needs IC substrate.
• Fourth, the pursuit of ultra-thin mobile phone requires chip with good heat dissipation, FC-CSP packaging boasts obvious advantages in terms of heat dissipation and thickness. Main chip for mobile phone of the future will be the FC-CSP packaging or SiP module packaging, involving power management and memory.

Browse more reports on "Information Technology & Telecommunication" @ http://www.chinamarketresearchreports.com/cat/information-technology-telecommunication.html .

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