The hottest downstream end product innovation open

The innovation of downstream terminal products opens up new demand for FPC

the continuous development of consumer mobile electronic products based on intelligent and wearable devices towards miniaturization and thinness, as well as the development of automotive automation, networking and electrification, will create new demand growth points for the FPC Industry

1.1 the intelligent innovation function has pushed the use of FPC to a new height

intelligence has gradually become the rigid demand of people's daily life, and the replacement of functional machines has been basically completed. In 2016, the global intelligent shipment reached 1.47 billion, and the growth rate of shipment has decreased, but the penetration rate has exceeded 80%. The growth rate of shipments in China's smart market is higher than that in the global market, and the smart penetration rate is more than 90%. The future intelligent increment factor comes from the old replacement and innovative functions to attract users to replace

deeply influenced by Apple's firm use of FPC boards, the current single machine consumption of mainstream intelligent FPC boards has reached 10-15, effectively promoting the demand for FPC boards. The emergence of new functions continues to expand the application of FPC in intelligence. The continuous penetration of fingerprint recognition, the rapid development of comprehensive screen, the small-scale test of face recognition, the increasing popularity of wireless charging and the carrying of flexible OLED screen, these technological innovations continue to stimulate the comprehensive upgrading of relevant supply chains, and indirectly promote the use demand and technological upgrading of FPC board

(1) the upsurge of comprehensive screen is coming, which promotes the re layout of FPC board in the intelligent whole industry chain.

since the end of 2016, with the release of Xiaomi mix and Samsung Galaxy S8 series, the comprehensive screen with extremely high screen proportion and length width ratio of 18:9 has triggered a trend of appearance innovation. Previously, it has been continuously exposed that iPhone 8 will also adopt comprehensive screen, and domestic brand manufacturers such as Huawei, oppo, vivo are also actively planning, Therefore, 2017 will be the beginning of the era of full screen. According to WitsView's prediction, the global shipment scale of full screen intelligence in 2017 will be about 130-150 million, with a penetration rate of nearly 10%

the introduction of comprehensive screen will make intelligence face corresponding technical challenges in structural design, camera, earpiece, antenna design, software UI, fingerprint recognition, process design, optical distance sensor and other aspects. The design of comprehensive screen glass, miniaturization of camera, miniaturization of earpiece, and the evolution of new fingerprint chips with the comprehensive screen will also lead to the reform of the entire industrial chain. In this case, the FPC board of the whole industry chain of the module will be rearranged, bringing new opportunities to the FPC Industry

(2) flexible OLED screen is the general trend, and the flexibility of all electronic products greatly improves the market demand of FPC.

OLED is a new generation of flat panel display technology after LCD, which has the advantages of low power consumption, high resolution, flexibility and so on. As Apple will also fully join the AMOLED camp in 2017, it is expected to lead AMOLED screens to further rapidly penetrate into intelligence. IHS data shows that the correct way for the global smart OLED market in 2017 is to rotate to the right, and the revenue will reach US $15.3 billion, which will exceed LCD in 2018

from the user side, once the flexible OLED display technology is adopted, the whole experience of consumer electronics is expected to achieve a revolutionary breakthrough. Therefore, flexible OLEDs that can be bent freely have become the consensus of the technological development direction of the industry. Flexible OLED screens can be widely used in smart, TV panels, tablet computers, notebook computers, wearable devices, VR devices, robots and other fields, completely changing the interaction mode between users and devices

compared with LCD screen, flexible OLED has a simpler structure, does not need backlight, and is directly bonded to flexible substrate (such as plastic, metal or flexible glass). The material of flexible substrate must meet the requirements of high temperature resistance, chemical resistance, low expansion coefficient, light and thin, flat surface, easy flexibility and low metal ion concentration. At present, the most suitable flexible substrate material is polyimide (PI), which is also the most commonly used flexible substrate material for FPC board

the ultimate goal of flexible display requires not only the flexibility of the screen, but also the main board, carrier or product itself. In this way, all the hard board circuits in the fuselage will be replaced by flexible circuits, which will greatly stimulate the demand for FPC and become an important bridge for connecting modules and signal transmission in the field of consumer electronics

(3) fingerprint recognition will achieve full penetration, promote FPC consumption and technology upgrading

the penetration of fingerprint recognition in intelligence will continue to increase, bringing incremental market to FPC. In 2016, the global shipment of fingerprint identification chips for intelligent terminals reached 690million, and the market sales reached 2.8 billion US dollars. According to yole's prediction, the compound annual growth rate of fingerprint recognition market will reach 19% in the next five years, and the market scale will reach US $4.7 billion, with a significant increase in scale

the penetration rate of fingerprint recognition in intelligence is getting higher and higher, which drives the demand scale of FPC board to increase. In addition, at present, the fingerprint identification module includes two mainstream schemes: coating mode and cover mode. The connecting plates used include ordinary double-sided FPC plate, electrode raised double-sided FPC plate and four layer soft and hard combination plate. In the future, with the use of full-scale screens, fingerprint recognition under the screen is expected to become the future trend. In order to meet the ultra-thin requirements, FPC board, as an intermediate signal connector, will develop towards ultra-thin and ultra narrow double-layer board, with the board thickness controlled within 0.1 mm and the line width reduced to 25 μ M or so

(4) the increasing popularity of wireless charging brings incremental space to FPC

after Galaxy S4, Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7, Samsung's new Galaxy S8 continues to be equipped with wireless charging function. Apple also joined the wireless charging Alliance (WPC) this year, and is expected to be equipped with wireless charging function on iphone8, a blockbuster product for its 10th anniversary. The support and application of wireless charging by the two brands will undoubtedly lead the innovation trend and accelerate the application of wireless charging technology in the field. In addition, wireless charging will also be used in many consumer electronic terminal products such as wearable devices and tablet computers, with huge potential market space. According to IDC estimates, the market size of wireless charging transmitters and receivers will reach US $550 million and US $1.66 billion respectively in 2018, and the market size of wireless charging technology will reach US $600million, bringing incremental space to FPC

at present, the mainstream wireless charging technologies are "electromagnetic induction" and "magnetic resonance". The internal coil plays a key role in the performance of wireless charging equipment. At present, two technical schemes are adopted: copper wire and FPC coil. In smart led consumer electronics, the receiving end is placed inside the whole machine. With the internal space becoming smaller and smaller, multi-mode combination has become a trend. The FPC coil scheme is significantly better than the copper wire coil. For example, the Samsung S7 adopts the three in one technology path of FPC + NFC + MST (magnetic radiation simulation)

considering the power requirements of wireless charging and the thinness of mobile electronic products such as, wearable devices and so on, FPC coils will be more applied to the receiving end of clicking "read data" devices. With the rapid penetration of wireless charging technology in electronic products, the demand for FPC coils will increase significantly. To ensure the received power, the FPC coil must have a certain thickness, and single-layer or double-layer FPC is more in line with the requirements. The revision results of Rockwell hardness tester

1.2 the trend of automotive automation, coupling and electrification breeds new opportunities in the FPC market

due to its bendability, small size and other characteristics, the application of FPC is gradually extended to automotive electronic control units, such as OLED lights, gearboxes, sensors, on-board display screens, battery management systems, on-board display screens and multimedia systems, which have high signal transmission and high reliability requirements. With the increasing application of sensor technology and the gradual penetration of Internet into cars, the trend of automotive electronization is becoming more and more obvious, and there are highly electronic products represented by Tesla and intelligent products represented by Google driverless cars

in 2016, the global automobile output reached 94.98 million, and the scale of the automotive electronics market was about 240 billion US dollars, accounting for about 35% of the vehicle value. In the future, with the deepening trend of automotive automation, networking and electrification, the proportion of automotive electronics in the vehicle cost is expected to exceed 50%. The application of FPC board in automobiles will be further popularized, which will greatly improve the output value of FPC

as a major automobile production and marketing country, China's automotive electronics market demand has also increased rapidly, and the penetration rate of automotive electronics continues to increase, which will promote the rapid development of China's automotive electronics market. In 2016, the scale of China's automotive electronics market reached US $74.1 billion, an increase of 13% year-on-year. As a connecting bridge between automotive electronic equipment, FPC board also has a certain appreciation space in market scale

the global electronics industry has entered the plateau period of the market, and the growth momentum of the soft board will gradually switch to emerging demand such as automotive electronics in the future. According to prismark's prediction, the output value of FPC in the automotive electronics field will reach US $850million by 2021

1.3 the scale of wearable devices has expanded rapidly, giving rise to the demand for thin and light FPC

according to different scenarios, wearable devices have been applied in many fields, such as sports health, entertainment, sleep, smart home, life, medical treatment, military and so on, including smart watches, fitness tracking devices, smart glasses, smart clothing, medical devices, headphones, hearing aids, electronic watches and other product categories. With the rise of the global wearable market, large international electronic equipment manufacturers such as Google, Microsoft, apple, Samsung and Sony have increased their investment and research and development of wearable devices, and domestic enterprises are not willing to lag behind. Industry leaders such as Baidu, Tencent, qihoo360 and Xiaomi have also deployed in the field of wearable devices. In 2016, the scale of the global wearable device market increased by 33%. According to CCS insight, the global wearable device shipment will exceed 400million pieces in 2020, and the market scale will exceed 40billion US dollars

the scale of China's wearable device market has expanded rapidly. In 2016, China shipped nearly 40million wearable devices, accounting for 44% of the total global shipments, which is 1.6 times that of the U.S. market. It has become the second largest mobile intelligent consumer terminal device in the Chinese market after intelligence. According to the prediction of third-party institutions, in 2017, China's wearable device shipments are expected to exceed 50million units, and the market scale will reach 35billion yuan

fpc has the characteristics of lightweight and flexible, and has the highest degree of fit with wearable devices. It is the preferred connecting device for wearable devices. FPC Industry will become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the booming wearable device market. At present, FPC flexible circuit boards are widely used in smart watches and smart glasses. For example, about 9 FPCs are used in PSVR. The wearable market, especially the rise of VR and AR technologies, will greatly stimulate the demand for lightweight FPCs