LG Innotek on Nov. 28 said in a regulatory filing that it was shutting down its PCB business as of Dec. 31 this year on account of declining sales. It also said that parts of the PCB business would be strategically reinvested into the semiconductor board business.
These measures are to streamline its business portfolio to pave the way for growth and profit, the firm added. LG Innotek’s PCB business was worth around 247.5 billion won, which was about 3.1% of its total sales portfolio.
In July and September this year, The Elec had reported that LG Innotek was looking to shutter its PCB business before the end of this year.
The ongoing decline in LG Electronics’ smartphone business had had a toll on LG Innotek, which depended on its affiliate for its PCB segment sales. This year, LG Innotek’s PCB production was around 156,000 sheets, which is less than 30% of its annual production volume between 2013 and 2016. Factory operation rate fell to around 51% as well. The smartphone boards, which originally was produced from both Cheongju and Osan, are now being manufactured only in the former since the fourth quarter of 2018.
LG Innotek’s smartphone board production lines were halted following the move. The firm’s plans to shut down the PCB business, however, had suffered some delays because its clients had required more time in confirming the 4M (Man·Machine·Material·Method) for moving production lines to another location.
The Cheongju facilities will now be emerged with the factory in Gumi, which usually produces value-added products. LG Innotek has recently also begun to restructure its LED chip business.
The Elec is South Korea’s No.1 tech news platform.
