WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.
Taiwan-based PCB makers Unimicron Technology, Unitech Printed Circuit Board and Compeq Manufacturing all plan to ramp up their capacities for any layer HDI boards in 2011 to cope with increasing demand from HTC, according to industry sources.
HTC has projected its smartphone shipments to top 11-11.5 million units in the second quarter, up from 9.3 million units shipped in the first. Furthermore, the industry sources also estimated HTC's total smartphone shipments in 2011 to reach 60 million units.
Unitech will begin to install the needed equipment at its new plant in Ilan, northeastern Taiwan in August-September with volume production set in November, according to earlier reports.
Unimicron plans to pour in additional investment at its plant in Taiwan to ramp up the production of HDI boards, but will focus on efficiency improvements at its plants in China during 2011, the sources noted.
Compeq plans to roll out 50,000-100,000 square feet of any layer HDI boards in 2011 while maintaining an annual capacity for 1.7-1.8 million square feet of traditional HDI boards, the sources added.
