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The world market for pcbs reached nearly $60 billion in 2012, with 1.7 percent real growth over 2011, according to IPC’s World PCB Production Report for the Year 2012.

Published annually, the report contains estimates of 2012 PCB production value by product category and by country, as well as commentary on PCB industry trends in each region and worldwide.  It also includes special reports on specialty laminates contributed by Prismark Partners and metal core boards from BPA Consulting.  Historical trends and data on PCB production by major PCB-producing countries and regions from 1980 to the present are also included.

“The report’s estimates are developed through a consensus process involving leading analysts worldwide and the data is trusted within the industry,” says Sharon Starr, IPC director of market research. “If you need to know what kinds of PCBs are being made where, the World PCB Production Report will tell you, in detail.”

The report shows Asia with 90 percent of world PCB production. China’s share of world production is now 42.8 percent and Japan is now a distant second with 16 percent. South Korea had a great year in 2012, surpassing Taiwan and moving into third place. The United States held onto its fifth place rank with just under a 5 percent share. Vietnam is the newest addition to the Top-10 list of PCB-producing countries, with just under 1 percent.

 This year’s report takes a technology-based approach to estimating PCB production, detailing PCB production in each country of single-sided, double-sided, standard multilayer, high-performance, IC package substrates, flexible circuits and rigid flex.  Among the PCB categories covered, rigid flex saw the highest growth in 2012.

High growth was also seen in the market for high density-interconnect (HDI) microvia boards and Asian PCB manufacturers are the main beneficiaries. Ninety-seven percent of HDI/microvia PCB production is done in Asia. Only 1.4 percent is made in North America. This year’s report provides more detail on HDI/microvias than in the past, with data in the standard multilayer and IC package substrate categories both broken down by boards with and without HDI/microvia structures.

The report is available to IPC members for $250; the industry price is $975. For more information or to purchase the World PCB Production Report for the Year 2012, visit www.ipc.org/world-pcb-report-2012. The Mandarin Chinese version of the report will be published next week.