Huawei continues to use LCP antennas, and domestic LCP material manufacturers accelerate localizatio

According to the news of the micro network, from the establishment of 5G commercial to the acceleration of 5G infrastructure, the demand for key materials and components under the 5G order has entered a period of rapid growth. Among them, based on the technological innovation of 5G high frequency and high speed, LCP materials have become the new favorite of the industry, occupying a unique advantage in the fields of antenna modules and FPC connectors.

From the perspective of the LCP industry chain, China's LCP materials have long relied on imports, and 75% of global LCP production capacity is concentrated in the United States and Japan. However, due to the continuous spread of the current global epidemic, the United States has become the country with the largest number of diagnoses in the world. California issued an "in-situ refuge order", and many companies plan to stop production for one month; and Japan has announced on April 6 that more Closure measures.

As the overseas epidemic continues to spread and fermentation, the supply of LCP raw materials may be affected, and based on the continued increase in domestic LCP materials, the localization process of LCP material manufacturers has begun to accelerate.

Huawei's high-end flagship continues to use LCP antennas

Due to the high frequency of 5G mobile phone communications, higher requirements have been placed on antenna materials.

In the 4G era, the flexible circuit board substrate used in mobile phone antennas is mainly PI, but due to the large water absorption rate, dielectric constant and dielectric loss factor of PI, it is often used in products below 10GHz. In the 5G era, the signal transmission performance above 10Ghz, LCP can be said to be the leader in mass production materials, the transmission loss is smaller, and as the frequency gradually increases, the loss is further reduced.

Previously, Jiwei reported that among the first-line terminal brand manufacturers, in addition to Apple's high-end LCP antenna, Samsung mainly uses MPI antennas, mainly from Korean factories. Today, Jiwei learned from Huaxi Securities that after using an LCP antenna in Mate 30 last year, Huawei continued to use LCP antennas for its P40 series.

Industry insiders said: "At present, due to the impact of high process barriers and low yields, the cost of its single antenna module is also relatively high, rising from 4-5 US dollars to 8 US dollars. Cost pressure has caused many Android manufacturers Discouraged. "

"However, driven by 5G this year, among Android mobile phone manufacturers, Huawei continues to promote the use of LCP antennas. In addition, the continuous addition of Lund antenna and related products of Sobeide and Xinwei Communications will drive the use of LCP antennas for Android mobile phones." The person added.

According to this trend, the penetration of first-line terminal manufacturers in LCP antennas will gradually increase, driving the continued growth in the market demand for LCP antennas. However, from the perspective of the LCP antenna industry chain, upstream raw materials and flexible board manufacturers are dominated by manufacturers such as the United States and Japan, and domestic manufacturers participate in the module manufacturing process.

Based on the impact of the current global epidemic, overseas countries have followed the measures of China's closure of production and other measures to prevent epidemic. For LCP upstream raw material suppliers, if production is restricted, it will also bring a chain reaction to downstream module manufacturers, and domestic LCP companies will accelerate their breakthrough And verification phase.

LCP raw material supply accelerates localization

The data shows that as of 15:00 on April 8, there were 1500,830 cases of new coronary pneumonia diagnosed and 87,706 deaths worldwide. Among them, the number of confirmed cases in the United States exceeded 420,000, and the cumulative number of diagnosed cases in Japan was 4,961.

In the current epidemic situation, on March 16, the six counties in the Northern California Bay Area implemented “in-situ asylum” epidemic prevention measures; Japan also issued an “emergency declaration” on April 7, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Fukuoka, etc. Seven prefectures have entered an emergency.

Industry analysts: "The spread of the international epidemic has caused a huge impact on the production of global manufacturing. The industrial situation in the United States is quite grim, and a large number of factories are closed and suspended; while Japan has no relevant epidemic disclosure, but it is based on Japan ’s semiconductor field. Once the epidemic causes the supply of raw materials to be cut off, the impact on many industries around the world cannot be ignored. "

"China, as the world's largest producer of electronic information products and parts, the overseas epidemic is hitting the domestic supply chain of 5G mobile phones and other electronic information products, and many manufacturers have begun to seek localized alternatives," the source further said.

According to the "Future Think Tank" report, from the industrial chain of LCP resin materials to mobile phone antenna modules, compared with the domestic resumption of production, in the areas of FCCL, FPC to antenna module manufacturing, there are domestic biotech, Jingwang Electronics Peng Ding Holdings, Shuo Baide, Dianlian Technology and other manufacturers continue to produce, but the LCP film technology process barriers are high, currently there are not many resin suppliers on the market that can mass produce LCP films for antenna modules , High-end membrane-grade resins are mainly concentrated in U.S. and Japanese companies such as Polyplastics, Celanese and Sumitomo.

It is foreseeable that the LCP resin production capacity in the United States, Japan and other countries accounts for 75% of the world's total. In the case where overseas epidemics affect the production of large raw material factories, the capacity supply capacity of domestic LCP resin manufacturers is particularly critical. According to the incomplete statistics of WeChat, currently, manufacturers such as Split, Jinfa Technology, Water, and Ningbo Jujia have been put into production one after another, and the production capacity of LCP materials has grown rapidly.

Among them, Walter, which acquired all the LCP business of Samsung Precision in 2014, is currently the only company in the world that can continuously produce 3 models of LCP resins and composite materials, with an annual production capacity of 3,000 tons. Recently, Water Co., Ltd. stated on the interactive platform that its LCP products have been used in some components in the high-frequency communication field, and the film-level LCP is in the stage of customer testing and certification.

As the leader of modified plastics, Jinfa Technology has independently developed LCP materials since 2009. It currently has a production capacity of 3,000 tons and will expand to 6,000 tons in the future. Jinfa Technology said on the interactive platform that it has developed a film-level LCP resin suitable for flexible antennas in cooperation with 5G communication equipment manufacturers. After multiple verifications and evaluations by film molding manufacturers, the material performance can meet the application needs and has been exported in small quantities. To Japan.

In addition, Split has successfully developed LCP resin materials for injection molding, film and spinning. Among them, injection-grade LCP resins have been supplied to downstream customers in batches, and they have jointly developed specific products such as LCP films and LCP fibers with well-known customers in the downstream industry. Ningbo Jujia already has the production capacity of film-level LCP resin, and the film products are in the pilot stage.