WITH the increasing emphasis on safety and providing consumers with greater value for money, global printed circuit board (PCB) automatic test equipment (ATE) manufacturers are likely to obtain a major share of their revenues from functional testing and the boundary scan segment in the next five years.
This is one of the key factors set to drive the steadily growing PCB ATE markets in the future.
Frost & Sullivan’s recent research, World Printed Circuit Board Automatic Test Equipment Markets, reveals that revenues in these markets totalled $970.1 million in 2004 and projects to reach $1.55 billion in 2011.
“ATE enterprises need to make equipment that can tackle concerns such as increasing board densities and the reducing space between holes on the PCBs as well as perform in tough environmental conditions of high temperature and humidity,” said research analyst, Poornima Vijayan.
To meet this demand, ATE vendors are continuously developing innovative test equipment suitable for testing high-performance PCBs, while simultaneously focusing on meeting requirements pertaining to greater frequencies, embedded passives, higher densities and finer lines.
Further, the growing emphasis on safety and standards being set by the automotive industry is likely to drive the functional test market as more revenues are also likely to come from the cheaper and reusable options that boundary scan offers.
In a significant development, a large portion of manufacturing facilities are being moved to lesser-developed areas such as Asia Pacific and especially China and also Eastern Europe, even as North American and European companies continue to produce the major share of the test equipment.
This has led to a situation where the major chunk of the test equipment need not be of top quality sold at a high price, a characteristic of devices from Europe, Japan, the United States and Taiwan.
Overall, with the ATE markets experiencing stable prices over the years, vendors are shifting their base to low-cost regions to realise greater profits.
“The competition is fierce in the tester markets and hence, revenue gains for the companies in these markets are less likely to justify further price cuts,” said Vijayan. “Further, inflationary concerns along with steady prices could result in a decrease in the projected growth rate during the forecast period.”
To sustain and grow in these markets, ATE manufacturers must come up with novel inspection methods and newer test equipment to keep in pace with the ever-increasing complexities of PCBs. In addition, due to the rising number of “design and build applications” from contract manufacturers, ATE vendors are considering forming alliances with them to capture greater market share.