my country’s PCB photoresist market has a high localization rate and the self-sufficiency of high-end products still needs to be enhanced

Photoresist, also known as photoresist, is used as an anti-corrosion coating material in the photolithography process. PCB, printed circuit board, is the support body and electrical interconnection carrier for electronic components. According to the purpose, photoresist can be divided into three categories: semiconductor photoresist, panel photoresist, and PCB photoresist. Among them, PCB photoresist has the lowest technical barrier and is an important material required for manufacturing PCB. Its cost It accounts for about 3% of the total cost of PCB manufacturing.

PCB photoresist mainly includes three categories: dry film photoresist, wet film photoresist, and photoimaging assembly soldering ink. Among them, dry film photoresist has a relatively high technical content. It coats a pre-prepared liquid photoresist on a carrier film to form a solid photoresist film, which is attached to the copper-clad plate to be processed for exposure and development. Compared with wet film photoresist, dry film photoresist will not immerse the holes in the copper clad board, making post-processing and cleaning more convenient. Wet film photoresist has high resolution, faster development and etching speed, lower cost, and a higher application ratio except for specific application scenarios.

Since the mid-to-late 1990s, the global PCB industry has transferred to mainland China, and my country has gradually become the world’s largest PCB producer, driving the demand for PCB photoresist to rise rapidly. In the 1990s, my country’s demand for PCB photoresist relied on imports. With the transfer of the PCB industry, my country’s PCB photoresist production capacity has continued to increase. Currently, in my country’s photoresist industry, PCB photoresist production accounts for more than 93%.

According to the “PCB Photoresist Industry In-Depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report 2022-2026” released by the Industrial Research Center, The technical difficulty of PCB photoresist is lower than that of semiconductor photoresist and panel photoresist. It is the first photoresist product in my country to achieve technological breakthroughs. It is also the main photoresist category currently produced in my country, with a high localization rate in the market. In the global PCB photoresist market, China’s share reaches about 94%. In China’s PCB photoresist market, the share of domestic PCB photoresist reaches 63%. It can be seen that my country’s PCB photoresist industry has certain competitive strength.

Photoresist is one of the key materials indispensable for the production of semiconductors, panels, and PCBs. As a major producer of electronic products, the demand for photoresist in the Chinese market continues to grow. In 2021, my country’s photoresist market will reach about 9.4 billion yuan. PCB photoresist, as a major category of photoresist, has a large market space. Driven by demand, my country’s PCB photoresist production continues to rise, reaching about 135,000 tons in 2021.

However, due to technical limitations, my country’s PCB photoresist industry is dominated by the production of mid-to-low-end products. Wet film photoresist and photoimaging assembly welding ink are the main product types. There are many manufacturing companies and sufficient product supply, while dry film photolithography The number of rubber manufacturing enterprises is small, the production capacity is small, and the performance of the products is far different from that of foreign products. Therefore, the market is highly dependent on foreign countries, reaching more than 90%, especially high-end products are completely dependent on imports.

Industry analysts said that the main PCB photoresist manufacturers in my country include Beijing Kehua, Jingrui Electric Materials, Rongda Photosensitive, Feikai Materials, Guangxin Materials, Oriental Materials, etc. Among them, a few companies such as Beijing Kehua have dry film photoresist production capacity, but the production capacity is small. Rongda Photosensitive and others are also accelerating the pace of dry film photoresist layout. my country’s PCB photoresists are mainly imported from Japan’s Asahi Kasei, Japan’s Hitachi, Taiwan’s Changxing Chemical, and the United States’ DuPont.