Taiwan's leading PCB maker Zhen Ding Technology will see its 2021 capex grow slightly on year to a new high of over NT$22 billion (US$785.71 million) for building new capacity for offerings including IC substrates and HDI boards.

The company's capex for first-quarter 2021 alone reached NT$7.59 billion - up sharply by NT$5.11 billion from a year earlier - mainly for capacity expansions.

The company said capacity expansions are being carried out at its plant complexes in China's Shenzhen, Huaian and Qinhuangdao. It will soon kick off construction of backend assembly lines for flexible PCB at the Shenzhen production base, and is building IC substrate facilities in both Qinhuangdao and Shenzhen. Additional HDI board capacity at its Huaian manufacturing base is slated for commercial runs in the second half of 20220, according to company sources.

Zhen Ding will also continue to invest heavily in R&D projects and engineers recruitment in 2021. Its 2020 R&D expenses surged over 80% on year, and personnel costs increased by more than 100% from 2019, thanks mainly to its efforts in developing high-end applications for IC substrates and HDI boards. And its personnel expenses for first-quarter 2021 alone increased sharply on year, as it was establishing new engineer teams for miniLED backlight board and IC substrate production lines.

Zhen Ding has reported its first-quarter 2021 revenues jumped 55.28% on year to NT$27.193 billion. The rise reportedly stemmed partly from stable shipments for iPhone 12 series and new iPad and MacBook models.

But its net earnings posted a much lower on-year expansion of 10.02%, due partly to the depreciation of the US dollar and partly to heavy R&D and engineer recruitment expenses, the company said.

The company said it will be striving to boost its ratio of shipments for non-handset applications this year, so as to reduce its revenue fall in traditional off-season.

By DIGITIMES