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96 PCB007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2018 their new and innovative products in areas of PCB materials and chemicals, green technology, and more. A wider range of product types and sectors helps visitors conveniently seek quality materials suppliers and offers an efficient one- stop purchasing service. Based on positive feedback from last year's event, the Hong Kong Pavilion (Hall one) will be expanded with over 100 square meters show- casing PCBs, semiconductor products, and ad- vanced technologies in four different product categories: communication, computers, con- sumer electronics, and automotive. The pavil- ion highlights Hong Kong's pivotal role in set- ting new standards and directions for the PCB industry. Leading enterprises will exhibit at the fair, to showcase their latest products and solutions, including TTM, Topsearch, Sunshine, Atotech, Harvar, WKK, Schmoll, Process Automation, Dupont, Dow, Hans CNC, C Sun, Topoint, Carl Zeiss, Jadason, Orbotech, Hitachi Chemical, Isola, MacDermid, Rogers, Universal P.C.B., Protek, Joint Stars, World Wide PCB, Boffot- to, Guanghua, Farcien, FujiFilm, Zhengye, and more. The 2018 IPC Hand Soldering and Rework, Repair Competition will enable visitors to ob- serve the highest levels of hand soldering craftsmanship. Further, this year's exhibition will continue to host a wide array of excit- ing events including the IPC China PCB De- sign Seminar, welcome dinner, and golf tour- nament. These activities will be held concur- rently to provide industry peers with abundant networking opportunities to foster friendships and strengthen business ties and partnerships in a relaxing environment. PCB007 China: Is there any correlation between this year's record-breaking show and the de- velopment of the entire industry? HKPCA: In the booth allocation meeting held on July 18–19 in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, feed- back was quick with 97% of booth spaces con- firmed and sold out, so the industry is devel- oping and doing well. Leading enterprises and new exhibitors will gather at the fair to show- case their latest and most innovative products and solutions. It offers an opportunity for the industry elites to interact with the buyers face- to-face. Also, a total of seven zones will be fea- tured to help visitors locate their areas of in- terests and effectively reflect industry trends: equipment supplier, smart automation, green, PCB manufacturer, electronic assembly, Japan and Korea, and materials suppliers. PCB007 China: This year, the PCB industry mar- ket has been changing rapidly. Business devel- opments such as expansions, industrial trans- fers, listings, mergers and acquisitions, and technical cooperation are very active. What new developments and business opportunities do you think there are in the PCB and electron- ic assembly industry? HKPCA: With the number of listed companies increasing, the influence of the capital mar- ket on our industry is stronger, and mergers and acquisitions will be routine in the future. China, the U.S., Japan, and South Korea have all released 5G commercial news, which is a tremendous opportunity. It is now the final countdown for commercial 5G—a technology that will power the development of IoT, indus- trial IoT, autonomous vehicles, Internet of Ve- hicles (IoV), smart cities, augmented and vir- tual reality (AR and VR), cloud computing, big data, etc. These trends could create a multitril- lion-dollar market. PCB007 China: PCB production technology has developed over many years. What is the hot- test topic in the industry that will be in this show, and in which areas do you most hope to see technical breakthroughs? Additionally, what impact do you expect the show will have on the development of the whole industry? HKPCA: There are two ongoing trends in elec- tronics: light and small-form-factor, and high- speed, high-frequency. These trends will con- tribute to technological changes in down- stream PCBs. Double-sided blind vias, ball grid array (BGA) blind vias, filled vias, multilayer blind vias, and two-step and three-step rigid-