• Total worldwide production of FPC in 2005, including flex-rigid, was $7,471 million of which polyester FPC encountered for $468 million and polyimide FPC accounted for $7,003 million. This is forecast to increase by 2011 to $690 million and $11,841 million respectively for polyester FPC and polyimide FPC.


• MFS market share is about 3.5%, in the telecom sector our share is 10-12% in 2005.

World FPC Market Overview

The Asian region outside of Japan now produces the largest volumes of FPC. Production value of polyimide FPC in Asia is expected to increase from $4,133 million in 2005 to $8,376 million by 2011. The fastest growing country in Asia is China, with FPC production value of $1,241 in 2005 expected to increase to $3,162 in 2011 (more than Japan and North America combined).

World FPC Market Overview

• The key growth areas for FPC cover the next five years will continue to be in mobile phones, flat panel display interconnects, digital cameras and other small portable equipments. New applications in automotive, medical, military and aerospace will offer smaller, more specialized opportunities to flex fabricators.


• The use of flex interconnect is increaseing in mobile telephone due to the increased functionality in the handset as well as the changes occurring in the mechanical design. However, use of flexible interconnects for attaching image sensors will have competition from surface mount sockets.


• Handset manufactures are exploring alternative designs to the common 'candy bar' and 'clam shell' designs. This change in design approach is creating more opportunities for the use of flex. However, slider phones may use alternative connections such as coax cables.


• Miniaturisation and increased functionality will continue to drive demand for smaller, finer features. The cost of flex-rigid currently outweighs the benefits therefore discrete flex and connectors will continue to be used in most mobile phones for the next five years.


• Demand for flex-rigid in mobile phone handsets is design-specific and has increased slowly, driven by increasing functionality and slimmer designs requiring more integrated boards. Most handset manufacturers are still wary of using flex-rigid substrates in their handsets. The major barrier quoted by handset manufacturers is the high cost of flex-rigid in comparison to alternative technologies (i.e. rigid boards with conventional flex).


• Demand for hard disk drives and optical media drives is also increasing as HDDs (380 million in 2005) and OPUs are being used in increasing numbers in consumer portable and audio-visual applications as well as in the computer sector. However, HDDs and OPUs are shrinking in size and the total volume of flex for these applications is not expected to increase

Source: BPA Consulting Ltd - WORLD WIDE MARKET REVIEW 2005-2011