Domestic high-frequency and high-speed copper clad laminate production capacity is insufficient.

The copper foil industry is a capital, technology, and talent-intensive industry with high barriers to entry. According to different downstream applications, copper foil products can be divided into standard copper foils used in automotive electronics, communications, computers, and small-pitch LED industries, and lithium copper foils used in new energy vehicles.

In terms of 5G communications, as domestic policies continue to increase new infrastructure areas such as 5G and big data centers, China’s three major operators are accelerating the construction of 5G base stations, and are expected to complete the construction target of 600,000 5G base stations by 2020. At the same time, 5G base stations will introduce MassiveMIMO technology, which means that antenna elements and feeder network systems will use more high-frequency copper clad laminates. The combination of the above two factors will stimulate the demand for high-frequency copper clad laminates to further increase.

From the perspective of 5G supply, in 2018, my country’s annual import volume of copper clad laminates was 79,500 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 7.03%, and imports were 1.115 billion yuan, an increase of 1.34% year-on-year. The global trade deficit was about US$520 million, a year-on-year increase. At 3.36%, the supply of domestic high-value-added copper clad laminates cannot meet the demand for terminal products. The domestic traditional copper clad laminates have overcapacity, and high-frequency and high-speed copper clad laminates are insufficient, and a large amount of imports are still needed.

Based on the overall trend of manufacturing transformation and upgrading and reducing dependence on imports of foreign high-frequency materials, the domestic PCB industry has ushered in an opportunity to accelerate the development of high-frequency materials.

The field of new energy vehicles is one of the biggest outlets at the moment. Since the explosive growth of the industry in 2015, the boom in production and sales of new energy vehicles has greatly driven the demand for upstream lithium battery copper foil.

In the development trend of lithium batteries in the direction of high energy density and high safety, the lithium battery copper foil as the negative electrode current collector of the lithium battery is very important for the performance and thinness of the lithium battery. In order to improve battery energy density, lithium battery manufacturers have put forward higher requirements for lithium battery copper foil in terms of ultra-thinness and high performance.

According to industry research forecasts, it is conservatively estimated that by 2022, the global demand for 6μm lithium battery copper foil will reach 283,000 tons/year, with a compound annual growth rate of 65.2%.

Driven by the explosive growth of downstream industries such as 5G communications and new energy vehicles, as well as factors such as the epidemic and the long order cycle of copper foil equipment, the domestic copper foil market is in short supply. The 6μm supply and demand gap is about 25,000 tons, including copper foil. The prices of raw materials, including glass cloth, epoxy resin, etc., have risen significantly.

In the face of the copper foil industry’s “increasing volume and price” situation, listed companies in the industry have also chosen to expand production.

In May of this year, Nordisk issued a plan for non-public issuance of stocks for 2020. It plans to raise no more than 1.42 billion yuan through non-public issuance, which will be used to invest in electrolytic copper foil projects with an annual output of 15,000 tons of high-performance ultra-thin lithium-ion batteries. Working capital and repayment of bank loans.

In August of this year, Jiayuan Technology announced that it intends to issue convertible bonds to unspecified objects to raise no more than 1.25 billion yuan, and invest in high-performance copper foil projects with an annual output of 15,000 tons, new high-strength ultra-thin lithium copper foil research and development, and other key technology research and development Projects, copper foil surface treatment systems and related informatization and intelligent system upgrading projects, Jiayuan Technology (Shenzhen) Technology Industry Innovation Center project, and supplementary working capital.

At the beginning of November this year, Chaohua Technology released a fixed increase plan, and it plans to raise no more than 1.8 billion yuan for the copper foil project with an annual output of 10,000 tons of high-precision ultra-thin lithium batteries, an annual output of 6 million high-end core boards, and an annual output of 700 10,000 square meters FCCL project, and replenish working capital and repay bank loans.

In fact, as early as October, Chaohua Technology announced that although the entry and exit of Japanese copper foil equipment and technical personnel was restricted due to the needs of epidemic prevention and control, through the joint efforts of Chaohua Technology and Japan’s Mifune, “Annual production The 8000-ton high-precision electronic copper foil project (Phase II)” equipment has been installed and entered the commissioning stage, and the project will be officially put into mass production.

Although the disclosure time of the fund-raising projects was slightly later than that of the above two peers, Chaohua Technology has taken the lead in the epidemic by introducing a full set of imported equipment from Japan.

The Article is from PCBWorld.