IC substrate suppliers Nan Ya PCB and Kinsus Interconnect Technology both saw their fourth-quarter 2020 revenues hit the year's peak, bolstered by higher prices offered by clients to scramble for more capacity support after a fire hit Unimicron's plant in northern Taiwan in late October, according to industry sources.

Nan Ya's fourth-quarter revenues rose 4.57% sequentially and 25.19% on year to NT$10.986 billion (US$392.36 million), and annual revenues for 2020 expanded 23.86% on year to NT$38.513 billion. Its December revenues spiked 2.15% sequentially and 23.81% on year to a nine-year high of NT$3.731 billion, driven by strong demand for both ABF and BT substrates.

As demand for ABF substrates, automotive PCBs and other traditional applications will remain strong in first-quarter 2021, Nan Ya will ready regular production manpower for the Lunar New Year holiday in February. The company is set to complete a 10% capacity expansion for ABF substrates at its plant in Kunshan, China in the first quarter, and will also deepen deployments in the BT-based SiP substrate segment to meet increasing demand, the sources said.

Kinsus saw fourth-quarter revenues advance 9.8% sequentially and 21% on year to a record high of NT$7.548 billion, and its 2020 revenues increased 21.4% on year to NT$27.098 billion.

Besides maintaining robust shipments of ABF substrates to major US vendors of GPU and FPGA chips, Kinsus has also landed substantial orders for BT substrates from mobile SoCs suppliers including Qualcomm and MediaTek since the fire broke out at Unimicron's plant dedicated to production of BT-based FCSCP substrates for processing handset APs, the sources noted, adding that the company will see further growth momentum in shipments of both ABF and BT substrates in 2021.

By DIGITIMES