Dominique Numakura's Newsletter from Japan

JPCA Report, English version

As I have told you previously, JPCA published the English version of the market research report Electronic Circuits Industry Survey Report, 2004 Edition, recently. The original report written in Japanese has more than 400 pages. The English translation has the 113 pages of data and analysis.

379 companies in the PWB industries replied for the 18page questionnaire. 186 etchers are included. Therefore, the data could represent the average of the market trend in Japan. The report considered both business and technology. Most of the data was analyzed by the company sizes and product categories. The first half of the report is analyzing current situations of the manufacturers. It includes outlines of the companies, manufacturing, marketing and material procurement. The second half is considering the forecast for the next five years. The companies provided their plan and expectations for technologies and businesses. The data includes the projection of the sales for each product. It shows the manufacturing plan in Japan and overseas. The data shows very detailed ideas about circuit densities and via hole sizes in the next five years.

This is valuable information for the PWB manufacturers and material vendors to understand the market trend of the Japan market.

The price of the report is only 20 US$. JPCA has no idea to make any money by this report. You can order the report through web site of JPCA, www.jpcanet.or.jp. Certainly, the cost of mailing and handling is more than the report. The web site has the English pages. But if you have a problem, please let me know.

Dominique Numakura

Headline News,   

Fujikura (Major flex circuit manufacturer in Japan)
Will invest 21 billion Yen in 2004 for the expansion of the facilities. The third flex circuit plant of its Thailand subsidiary PCTT will be one of the major projects.

Asahi Precision Circuits (Middle class flex circuit manufacturer)
Expects doubled sales in 2004 by the booming of multi-layer rigid/flex. Will introduce the build-up process for the higher layer counts.

Hitachi Maxell (Electronic device manufacturer in Japan)
Developed a new catalyst of molybdenum oxide for fuel cell as the alternative material of expensive platinum.

Nitto Denko (Major electronics material manufacturer in Japan)
Unveiled its new anisotropic conductive film “Cupil” as the contact material of the probe of the electrical testers.  The minimum applicable pitches are 55 micron.

Nippon Mektron (The largest flexible circuit manufacturer) 
Will invest 11.8 billion Yen in 2004 to increase the manufacturing capacity. It is targeting 164.2 billion Yen (about 1.5 billion US$) revenue in 2004.

Sam Sung SDI (Major display device manufacturer in Korea)
Had the global top manufacturer’s position of plasma display with 24.2% share in the 1st Q of 2004. FHP (Fujitsu-Hitachi Plasma Display) had the second position with22.2% share

Citizen Electronics (Major component manufacturer in Japan)
Developed a 0.3 mm thick chip of the white light LED for the back light of cellular phone displays.

Hitachi Cable (Major manufacturer of the lead frames in Japan)
Changed the company name of the manufacturing subsidiary of lead frames in  the Philippines to PHCP, Inc. Hitachi acquired the company from Dowa Mining.

Sumitomo Chemical (Major chemical company in Japan)
Will build a new plant in China for the LCD materials and devices. The first building will start the operation for the LCD light guides in the summer of 2005.

Furukawa Electric (Major cable company in Japan)
Commercialized the Laser Wave Fiber Solution that includes optical fibers and relating devices for the 10 GHz LAN and Data communication. 

Oki Printed Circuits (Major PWB manufacturer in Japan)
Was successful in the recycling of the chemical waste from the PWB process. Oki could save 50 million Yen by reducing 130 tons of waste and getting the valuable platinum and copper.

Sumitomo Metal Mining (Copper product supplier in Japan)
Will double the manufacturing capacity of rolled annealed copper foil to 200 ton per month in the first half of 2005. The new line is capable for 700 mm wide and 6 micron thick.

Dai-Nippon Screen (Equipment manufacturer in Japan)
Will open the technical service offices for LCD manufacturing equipment in Taiwan and China for better services in the booming areas.

Hitachi (Major electronics company in Japan)
Developed a new thin long life fuel cell for the notebook computer with hydrocarbon membrane. 

Hitachi Chemical (Electronics material supplier in Japan)
Developed a new optical wave guide circuit with fluorized polyimide resin for the optical splitters.

All original news items were written in Japanese.  Volunteers are choosing the topics and translating to English for free delivery.  We are not responsible for the accuracy of the news. Quick news is the first priority of the headlines, therefore, we can not eliminate all of the mistakes in the translations.