In 2022, the global consumer electronics market gradually recovered from the impact of the pandemic. Shipments of end products such as smartphones, tablets, and wearable devices steadily rebounded, driving continued growth in demand for flexible printed circuits (FPCs) and serving as the core driving force behind the FPC industry's recovery. According to the 2022 FPC Industry Report released by Prismark, the global FPC market reached RMB 118 billion in 2022, representing a year-on-year increase of 8.2%. The Chinese market accounted for 58% of global FPC shipments, continuing to rank first worldwide. The FPC industrial clusters formed in the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta regions, leveraging their comprehensive supply chain advantages, became the global core bases for FPC manufacturing.
In 2022, the core development characteristics of the FPC industry were "stable growth and accelerated upgrading." As end products evolved toward lighter, thinner, and more integrated designs, the application scenarios for FPCs continued to expand. Beyond traditional consumer electronics, the use of FPCs in automotive electronics, smart home devices, and other sectors gradually increased. The smartphone segment remained the primary demand market for FPCs, with 5G smartphones using more than 20% more FPCs per unit than 4G models. The gradual proliferation of foldable-screen smartphones further drove FPC demand growth, with FPC usage in foldable-screen smartphones increasing by 65% year-on-year in 2022.
On the technological front, domestic FPC manufacturers gradually broke through mid-to-high-end technical bottlenecks in 2022, with mass production capabilities for multilayer flexible boards and rigid-flex boards continuing to improve. Line width/line spacing generally reached 30/30 μm, with some leading companies achieving mass production at 20/20 μm. At the same time, the localization of FPC base materials accelerated, with the localization rate of PI (polyimide) base materials rising from 35% in 2021 to 48% in 2022, effectively reducing FPC production costs and enhancing the market competitiveness of domestic FPC manufacturers. Looking ahead, driven by continued innovation in end products, the FPC industry will maintain a steady growth trajectory.
