Dominique K. Numakura's Newsletter from Japan - INTERNEPCON JAPAN 2010 (Part I)

The 39th Internepcon Japan show, part of the global Nepcon series of events, and Asia's largest exhibition for electronics packaging, was held at Tokyo Big Sight in Japan. The three day show began on January 20th; other shows running concurrently included the 27th ELECTROTEST JAPAN, 11th IC PACKAGING TECHNOLOGY EXPO, 11th PRINTED WIRING BOARDS EXPO, 11th INTERNATIONAL ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS TRADE SHOW, 10th FIBER OPTICS EXPO, 3rd VENTURE FIRM PAVILION, 3rd PHOTONICS JAPAN, 2nd INTERNATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY EXPO (CAR-ELE JAPAN), 1st ADVANCED ELECTRONIC MATERIALS EXPO (MATERIAL JAPAN) and 1st EV & HEV DRIVE SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY EXPO (EV JAPAN).

More than fourteen hundred companies and organizations reserved booths during the huge event, and all floors of the pavilions were occupied by trade show displays and exhibits. The exhibition size was almost the same as last year's show even though a few vacant spaces were available. Nepcon World still holds the title as the largest exhibition for electronics design, R&D and Manufacturing as other industry exhibitions have downsized because of the serious recession over the last 5 quarters.

I am not sure of the number of visitors this year, but the crowds were very large. Attendance spiked during the afternoon on the last day. The aisles were packed, and it was tough to navigate from one booth to the next, and almost impossible to walk against the flow of people. The crowds were made up of visitors from throughout the world.

The symposium held next to the exhibition was also busy. More than 180 speakers presented forty five minutes speeches during the keynote sessions that focused on the latest business and technology trends from the industry. The ticket prices for seats were a bit expensive, but sold out well before the start of each session. The topics presented by me during the flexible circuit session included printable and flexible electronics. I attracted more than 150 industry professionals interested in the latest information and technologies.

NEPCON WORLD is still successful compared to other exhibitions that are not doing so well during this long recessionary period... why? Could the show be a barometer for the industry and signaling a rebound for the electronics segment? One of my business associates is an exhibitor manager and has an inside perspective as to the success on Nepcon World. Reed Exhibitions is the world's leading organizer of trade and consumer events, and organizes Nepcon World. Many returning exhibitors canceled their booth reservations when business turned sour a couple of years ago. Reed Exhibition was proactive in attracting businesses and consumers to this event and organized new events such as MATERIAL JAPAN and EV JAPAN. They spearheaded advertising campaigns to include new foreign exhibitors, and renegotiated terms with those exhibitors who canceled their reservations. Their efforts paid off as companies were eager to participate in the show.

Next week's newsletter will have more details about the show.

Dominique K. Numakura
DKN Research, www.dknresearch.com  

Headlines of the week

DNP (Major printing company in Japan) 1/18
Has developed a low height wire bonding process for embedded component circuit boards. 700 pin IC chips are available for the process.

Nippon Photo Printing (Electronics device supplier in Japan) 1/20
The revenue of touch panels in 2009 was over 25 billion yens, 68% increase from the previous year.

Micro Giken (Electronics material supplier in Japan) 1/20
Has been expanding the business of touch panels instead of STN color filters. The revenue of the business is almost 5 billion yens.

AIST (R&D organization in Japan) 1/20
Has developed a new mono layer technology of carbon nano tube molecules for high performance capacitor electrodes.

Sangyo Times (Industry media) 1/20
The total investment of the major Japanese PWB manufacturers in 2009 was 84 billion yens, almost half compared to the previous year.

Ajinomoto Fine Techno (Electronics material supplier in Japan) 1/20
Plans to expand the business of functional adhesive materials introducing new ABF materials series for the next generation build-up process of IC substrates.

DNP (Major printing company in Japan) 1/20
Has established the manufacturing process for the world thinnest circuit boards (0.38mm) for embedded components using B2it technology.

Kuraray (Major polymer material supplier in Japan) 1/21
Has commercialized two new versions of LCP films with higher heat resistances and better dimensional stabilities.

Hitachi (Major electric and electronics company in Japan) 1/21
Has rolled out a new LED bulb series for general use. 4.1 W type has an equivalent brightness as traditional 40W bulbs.

Micro-tec (Screen printer manufacturer in Japan) 1/22
Has unveiled a new fine line printing technology with copper paste. The new process is capable to generate 30 micron by firing under atmosphere.
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Sony Chemical (Major packaging material supplier in Japan) 1/22
Has developed a new IC packaging process of "Chip on Wafer" using new thermo setting adhesive films. The new process eliminate under-fill and flux processes.

Chipbond (Major IC assembling house in Taiwan) 1/22
Has agreed to merge with another assembling house, IST (International Semiconductor Technology) during the second quarter of 2010.