Unimicron, Unitech expands the production

TAIPEI: According to latest reports, PCB makers Unimicron Technology and Unitech Printed Circuit Board are expanding their production capacity for HDI boards.

This move is seen mainly as a direct response to the growing demand for smartphones. Sources say that Unimicron will be ramping up monthly capacity of HDI boards to 2.05 million square feet at the end of 2010, currently capacity is set at 1.5 million square feet.

Apart from the smartphone sector, the penetration rate of HDI boards in tablet PCs is also expected to grow significantly in the next 2-3 years, according to according to sources at Unimicron.

Sources at Unitech say that plans are on to build up a new plant in Yilan, northeastern Taiwan. This will ramp up its capacity by 25-30 p.c. The new facilities are expected to come online in early 2011.

As for sequential growth, sources say that Unitech its handset PCB shipments to stage a 20 p.c  growth in the third quarter of 2010. This is an upward revision from its previous estimate of flat-to-modest growth, say sources, who add that the company has been receiving more orders of late from smartphone customers.

At Unitech, sources say that HDI board sales accounted for 90 p.c of total sales at the end of the second quarter, with the smartphone sector contributing 60 p.c of the sales from HDI boards.