AT&S World

AT&S at a Glance
6
AT&S at a Glance
The largest manufacturer
of printed
circuit boards in
Europe and India, and
operator of China’s
biggest HDI printed
circuit board plant
Product
Definition
Industrial
Design
Mechanical
Design
AT&S is by far the largest producer of printed circuit
boards in Europe and India, and ranks among
the top suppliers worldwide. AT&S Group employs
about 7,500 people. Founded in 1987, its headquarters
are in Leoben, Austria. The Group was listed
on the stock exchange in 1999, following a management
buy-out in 1994. Its financial year runs from
1 April to 31 March.
Printed circuit boards
Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are the nerve centres
of many electronic devices, as they integrate
active and passive components. There are a variety
of types of printed circuit board, adapted
to differing technological and cost requirements:
single-sided; double-sided; multilayer; high density
interconnection (HDI): multilayer (PCBs with
ultra-fine structures); flexible; rigid-flexible; and
semi-flexible.
PCB technologies have made extremely rapid progress
in recent years. Mobile phones are an illustration
of how fast things are moving: a decade
ago they were twice as large on average as they
are today, and were only designed for telephony.
Modern handsets are multimedia devices complete
with GPS, camera and television functions.
The trend towards miniaturisation and ever more
complex components is central to the challenges
facing PCB manufacturers.
AT&S in the supply chain
Our core business is manufacturing printed circuit
boards tailored to customer specifications. In order
to offer its customers a wider range of products
and services and to strengthen its market position,
AT&S also offers design services. Thanks to its new
embedding technology, AT&S will also in future be
able to offer chip packaging services.
Electronics
Design
Layout
Hardware
Backward
Integration
Core Business
PCB
Production
PCB Component
Assembly
Forward
Integration
Final
Assembly
Marketing
& Sales
The printed circuit board market
Global PCB sales amounted to USD 51 billion (bn)
in 2010. Production in China was up by almost 30%.
Although production recovered in Europe by some
21% in 2010, at USD 2.5bn volumes fell well short
of 2009 levels as the collapse in the crisis year had
seen the European market contract by some 45.7%.
The world market is forecast to grow to USD 69.8bn
by 2015. Markets in Asia will be the main growth
driver, whereas demand is expected to increase
only slightly in Europe, Japan and the USA.
AT&S and the competition
The printed circuit board market is highly fragmented.
There are currently some 2,000 manufacturers
around the world, of which about 290
are in Europe. In 1997 AT&S was the third-largest
manufacturer in Europe, and by 2000 it was the
largest. We have since extended our lead to such a
degree that we are now larger than our closest four
competitors put together. There has been a trend
towards market consolidation for some years now,
and it has picked up speed as a result of the economic
crisis, which benefited well-positioned enterprises
such as AT&S.
AT&S was quick to recognise that mass production
would migrate to Asia from Europe and America.
In response to the new situation, we acquired India’s
largest printed circuit board manufacturer
in 1999, and significantly expanded its capacity in
the years that followed. To keep pace with growing
customer demand we have now constructed a
second plant next to the existing one, which has
strengthened our leadership position in India. In
2002 the first phase of construction on our new
production site in Shanghai was completed and
taken into service. Since then the plant has been
progressively enlarged in response to customer
needs. The Shanghai factory is now not only the
largest in the AT&S Group but also the largest
specialist HDI plant in China. AT&S is one of the
world’s leading producers in this segment, and our
main competitors are all located in Asia (mainly
Japan and Taiwan).