Rigid Flex PCB Manufacturing

Does the increase in raw materials have a great impact on the manufacturing price of rigid flex PCB boards? Since September 2020, up to now, CCL copper-clad laminates have undergone several rounds of price increases. Compared with the low point in 2020, the current prices of some board products have dropped double. This round of price increase can be said to be the largest increase in the rigid flex PCB manufacturing industry in the past 10 years. Why does copper clad laminate continue to rise in price?

We believe that it is mainly caused by the following three aspects: the first aspect is due to the shortage of raw materials in the upstream of the copper clad laminate industry chain and the price increase; the second aspect is due to the strong demand in the downstream of the rigid flex PCB manufacturing industry chain; the third aspect is that Due to the Virus, major economies have over-issued currency, leading to inflation. The raw materials of CCL are mainly composed of copper, glass fiber and resin.

The price increase of various raw material varieties in the upstream has played a role in promoting the price increase of copper clad laminates. Among the raw materials of CCL, copper foil accounts for 30%-50%, glass fiber accounts for 25%-40%, and resin accounts for 25%-30% of the total cost. It is understood that the upstream copper foil production capacity of copper clad laminates is currently in short supply. Affected by the outbreak of the new energy automobile industry, a group of rigid flex PCB manufacturers have switched to lithium battery copper foil, resulting in a large supply gap for electronic copper foil and a rapid rise in prices. In addition, the main raw materials of copper foil substrates, such as glass fiber and resin, have also increased by as much as 30%-100%. On the other hand, the substantial increase in downstream demand in the copper-clad laminate industry chain such as consumer electronics, 5G base stations, and automotive electronics is also a key factor driving the price increase of copper plates.

Taking the main application of PCB in the downstream of copper clad laminates as an example, since the second half of last year, the demand in various fields downstream of rigid flex PCB  manufacturing has entered a period of rapid recovery, until the current upward trend of prosperity continues. However, the second round of price increases has little impact on the processing cost of rigid flex PCB boards. The most important reason is that, due to the composition of the manufacturing cost of the rigid flex PCB board, the proportion of the sheet material is relatively very low. Taking the four-layer rigid flex PCB board as an example, CCL accounts for less than 5% of the overall cost, and the main cost of manufacturing the rigid flex board comes from its complex processing costs. But the situation of ordinary rigid boards is completely opposite. Taking ordinary double-sided panels as an example, the proportion of sheet metal is as high as 30-40%, and that of ordinary four-layer boards is as high as 20-30%.

On the other hand, it is due to the fact that the overall cost of flexible boards has not risen much. As we all know: the base material of the flexible board is FCCL, and the main raw materials of FCCL are: polyester (PET) film and polyimide (PI) film. Compared with resin and glass fiber cloth, these materials have not increased so much, and because FCCL is much thinner than CCL, the amount of raw materials required is relatively small, so the overall cost of flexible boards has not increased much. The above two reasons can explain why although the rise in sheet metal will increase the price of rigid board by 15-30%, the price of rigid flex PCB board can not be increased.