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26 The PCB Magazine • December 2014 F e a t u r e by Canice Chung hong Kong Printed circuit aSSociation China Market Outlook for 2015 Since the 2008 financial crisis, the global economy has faced big challenges, with an ex- cess of global money supply triggering high in- flation regionally. Emerging markets were hit quite seriously. These exceptionally high infla- tion rates impacted countries such as China, which has had to defend against it by periodi- cally regulating its economic policies. High inflation has dampened the recovery speed of China's economy, as well as prolonged the re- covery of the already shaky global economy. Per N.T. Information, the total PCB market is forecasted to reach US$62.7 billion in 2014, US$64.9 billion in 2015, and US$67.7 billion by 2017. PCB market growth has been minimal or flat these past few years, and looks to be gradu- ally gaining momentum to grow again in the next few years. China has been one of the fast- est growing PCB markets in the last decade, and it will continue to not only exceed the growth of the world PCB market, but will grow at a quicker and steadier rate than that of the rest of the world. China's PCB Market Today China has been the largest PCB producing region for the past few decades. Substantial market share for lower-technology products like 4–6 layer PCBs, which started in the ear- ly 1990s, and the higher-technology microvia HDI products, also emerged in the last decade. Per Prismark's report this year, 18+ layer PCBs, silicon platform and flex circuits are expected to grow at a faster rate in the coming years. China's electronics and PCB industries are also entering into another phase of technol- ogy transformation, with government policies promoting the migration of product technol- ogy towards the production of semiconductors, substrate and chip packages, and other cutting- edge technology.