Techwise (Macao) Circuits, headquartered in Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, China, is a subsidiary of Kingboard (KB) Chemical Holdings. The company manufactures technologically advanced and high-quality printed circuit boards and exports its products to Japan and Europe, among other countries. It is further expanding its capacities with a view to the automotive market.
The expansion is aimed in particular at customers from the automotive industry in Europe. To this end, resources as well as the portfolio and service are being expanded. The parent company Kingboard Holdings is primarily active in the chemical industry, from coal chemistry to refineries and from phenol and acetone production to PVC production. Over 90% of the raw materials produced are consumed internally within the KB Group. KB has been the world's number 1 laminate manufacturer since 2006. Various products - a total of 12 million m² per month - are manufactured in 11 factories. The global market share in 2022 was 15.3%. With its 13 PCB factories, KB has been one of the global top 15 in the industry for years. In 2022, KB was number 12 worldwide with a turnover of US$ 1.68 billion.
Plant view; pictures: Techwise
History and development of Techwise
The company was founded in 1994 by Lenovo as Techwise Circuits Co, Ltd. As early as 1995, it expanded its business base with the acquisition of shares in Uniplus Electronics Co. Ltd, Taiwan. In the years that followed, production capacities and technological capabilities were continuously expanded. In 2002, KB Holdings acquired Techwise and continued its expansion with the construction of a further factory in Fogang, among other things, and today Techwise generates sales of $462 million (2023) with a total of around 4,300 employees. The portfolio includes 2 to 20-layer printed circuit boards. Production capacity totals 465,000 m² per month. The company now has 23 years of experience with printed circuit boards for automotive applications. It has four production sites, all of which are located in Canton Province, China.
Plant 1: Huiyang Techwise Technology (HTT)
HTT was founded in 1994 and is designed for high-mix and low-mid volume production. On a production area of 53,000 m², 1,200 employees manufacture 2 to 14-layer printed circuit boards with OSP, HASL, immersion tin and immersion gold surfaces. Finger gold plating and hard gold are also offered. The capacity is 120,000 m² per month. The plant is certified to ISO 14001, ISO 9001, IATF 16949 and UL E164576.
Plant 2: Techwise Circuits Shirai Fogang (TSF)
TSF was opened in 2001 and is designed for mid-mix and mid-high volume production. On a production area of 38,000 m², 1,300 employees manufacture 2 to 8-layer PCBs with OSP, HASL, immersion tin, immersion silver and immersion gold surfaces. Finger gold plating and hard gold are also offered. The monthly capacity is 125,000 m². The plant is certified to ISO 14001, ISO 9001, IATF 16949, UL E232404 and CQC.
Plant 3: Fogang Techwise Circuits (FTC P1)
FTC P1 was established in 2007 (Phase I) and is designed for mid-mix and mid-high volume production. On a production area of 38,000 m², 1,200 employees manufacture 2 to 14-layer printed circuit boards with OSP, immersion tin, immersion silver and immersion gold surfaces. Finger gold plating and hard gold are also offered. The capacity is 100,000 m² per month. The plant is certified to ISO 14001, ISO 9001, IATF 16949, ISO 13485, ISO 45001 and UL E311922.
Plant 4: Fogang Techwise Circuits (FTC P2)
FTC P2 was opened in 2019 (Phase II-A) and is designed for low-mix and mid-high volume production. On a production area of 50,000 m², over 500 employees manufacture 2 to 10-layer printed circuit boards with OSP, immersion tin, (planned) immersion silver and immersion gold surfaces. Finger gold plating and hard gold are also offered. The monthly capacity is 120,000 m². The plant is certified to ISO 14001, ISO 9001, IATF 16949, ISO 13485 (in preparation), ISO 45001 (in preparation) and UL E311922.
Modern equipment for the highest quality and a high degree of automation using robots
Techwise relies on automated line production and the reduction of manual activities in all plants. Accordingly, fully automated systems are used for the production of printed circuit boards and almost all other steps are carried out by robots. Combined with the MES system, which is used for production planning and controls tool changes, production is optimized and production efficiency is improved. Examples of the modern equipment used to significantly improve quality include
- fully automatic UV LED imagesetters in inner layer production
- Inline AOI systems in all etching lines
- Systems for horizontal through-hole plating (PTH)
- Systems for vertical copper plating (VCP)
- LDI systems for the exposure of outer layers
- DCVP lines with vacuum etching
- Inline AOI systems for outer layers
- Solder mask lines from screen printer or spray system with dryer as well as with inline development and curing
- New AVI and E-Test with all-in-one machines, using KI to improve the AVI
Automatic LSM screen printing system
Automatic LSM spraying system
Automatic laminating system
LDI system
Further capacity expansion - large volumes also possible
The FTC P2 plant is now capable of producing large volumes. Since the fourth quarter of 2023, 1,200,000 ft² (111,483 m²) can be produced there every month. Techwise is also planning to open a new factory in Rojana, Thailand, with a capacity of up to 120,000 m² per month. Its launch is planned for mid-2026. Techwise also has additional space available in Fogang for the FTC P3 and P4 plants planned for the future, with a total capacity of 200,000 m² per month. In order to meet the ambitious growth targets, a Techwise representative office has been established in Germany. The aim of this cooperation, which focuses on the European markets, is to expand sales activities in line with market opportunities.
Business outlook - growth and technical progress
In recent years (2013 to 2022), annual growth has averaged 7%. 50% of sales were generated in Europe. The automotive share was 70%. Techwise serves practically all automotive OEMs. VW, Mercedes-Benz and BMW have a large share. There are also applications from the industrial and medical sectors. The largest share of production is 4-layer PCBs with 33% and 6-layer PCBs with 25%. The product portfolio ranges from single-sided to high-layer PCBs. Specialties such as metal-based PCBs (IMS), with copper inlays, resin plugging, buried and blind holes, semiflex or back-drilling are also offered. The surfaces are realized by Techwise itself. Impedances of ±5 % are possible. The smallest structures are currently at L/S of 75 µm, from 2024 (2026 in Thailand) these will be 50 µm. In 2025, multilayers with up to 24 layers and HDI structures with 10 anylayers will be possible, as will significantly greater copper thicknesses. Then there is Techwise Industry 4.0.
The company understands this to mean above all
- MES system monitoring of the entire process
- Traceability and equipment IoT: transition from panel to single piece (laser) marking (for inner layers on an area of 6 mm x 6 mm with a dot size of 0.3 mm, for outer layers drill marking and in the solder mask)
- Use of AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) robots with "goods-to-person" mode as a core element
- Use of solar energy
In recent years, Techwise has received a number of customer awards from well-known companies, e.g. as best supplier, partly due to its high quality as a supplier to the automotive industry, and will remain true to its claim that 'customer satisfaction is always our top priority' in the future. Building on over 23 years of experience as a supplier to the automotive industry, Techwise continues to expand its capacity and capabilities with the support of Kingboard.
