Thailand is emerging as a new outlet for automotive PCBs, particularly those for electrical vehicles (EVs), prompting Taiwan-based PCB makers including Apex International, Chin-Poon Industrial and APCB to gear up efforts to expand their presence there, according to industry sources.

The Thailand government has recently approved a tax exemption and reduction program designed to encourage the development of EVs and related supply chain in the country, where a total of 16 automakers have set up assembly plants with over 1,800 supporting suppliers of parts and components, offering a relatively more mature ecosystem for EV production among Southeast Asian countries, the sources said.

Chin-Poon is among the world's major suppliers of automotive PCBs with deep deployment in the EV segment. As the largest PCB vendor in Thailand by annual shipments, Apex has also successfully tapped into the automotive application market since 2019 and will set up a plant there dedicated to production of automotive PCBs. APCB has had its automotive PCB products validated by potential clients in Thailand, the sources noted.

As the technology for manufacturing automotive PCBs is not too complicated, the three makers can easily handle production of thick copper boards for EVs and will have a good chance to develop a bigger presence in the automotive PCB market in Southeast Asia as long as they can manage to boost yield rates by improving production lines and management, the sources said.