According to the Japan electronic circuit industry association (Japan electronic packaging circuit association;JPCA's June 2018 Japan printed circuit board (PCB)The yield of RIGID board + FLEX PCB + module base board) decreased by 3.6 % to 1.32 million square meters compared with the same month last year.Output rose 6.2 percent to 41,276 million yen, the ninth consecutive month of growth and the largest increase this year.In terms of categories, the production of Rigid PCB in Japan fell 0.5 percent to 889,000 square meters in June from the same month last year, with the first reduction in four months.Output rose 4.4 percent to 27.499 billion yen, the ninth consecutive month of growth.
Output of Flexible PCB decreased 15.3 percent to 265,000 square meters, shrinking for the 13th consecutive month.Output fell 17.2 percent to 3.934 billion yen, the sixth consecutive monthly decline, the biggest drop this year.
The production of Module Substrates increased by 10.1% to 78,000 square meters, with a rise of 19th degree in 20 months.Output rose 26.9 percent to 9.843 billion yen, the 12th consecutive month of growth.
Cumulative PCB production in Japan in the january-june 2018 period fell 1.0 percent to 7.206,000 square meters from the same period last year, and output increased 4.1 percent to 2,361.62 million yen.
During the period from January to June, the output of hardboard increased by 1.6% to 5.133,000 square meters and the output increased by 4.1% to 155.811 million yen.Output of soft board fell 10.1% to 16.57 million square meters and output fell 8.2% to 25.386 billion yen.Output of module substrates increased by 9.3 percent to 416,000 square meters and output increased by 10.8 percent to 5.965 billion yen.
Major Japanese PCB suppliers include Ibiden, CMK, NOK's Nippon Mektron, Fujikura, Shinko, Meiko, etc.
Weaker demand from high-end smartphones weighed on software giant Nippon qisheng's revenue, which fell 9.2 percent to 69.25 billion yen last quarter from the same period a year ago, and its revenue loss worsened to 4.663 billion yen from 3.488 billion yen a year earlier.