After making various interpretation by all social circles, in the morning of 20^th April, National Development and Reform Commission has clarified on the concept and scope of the new infrastructure.

At the press release of the National Development and Reform Commission on 20^th April, Wu Hao, Director of Innovation and High Technology Development of National Development and Reform Commission stated in response to questions from Bloomberg, that New Infrastructure is guided by the new development concept, driven by technology innovation, based on information network, facing the needs of high quality development, providing services such as digital transformation, smart upgrade, integration and innovation, etc.

01

Clarification on the Three Aspects of New Infrastructure Construction for the First Time

For now, New Infrastructure Construction primarily includes 3 aspects:

    First, information infrastructure, which refers to the infrastructure based on the evolution of new generation information technology, for instance, communication network infrastructure represented by 5G, Internet of Things, industrial Internet and satellite Internet; new technology infrastructure represented by artificial intelligence, cloud computing and blockchain; computing infrastructure represented by data centre and intelligent computing centre, etc.

Second, integrated infrastructure, which primarily refers to technologies such as deep application Internet, big data, artificial intelligence, etc., to support the transformation and upgrade of conventional infrastructure, for example, smart traffic infrastructure and smart energy infrastructure, etc.

Third, innovative infrastructure, which mainly refers to infrastructure with public welfare attributes, that supports scientific research, technology development, product development, etc.

The scope of New Infrastructure Construction interpreted by National Development and Reform Commission ranges more extensively. Apart from 5G network, data centre, artificial intelligence, industrial Internet, Internet of Things which have already been mentioned in the official statement, cloud computing, blockchain and smart computing centre that are often discussed within the field are included as well. However, High Speed Railways, Ultra High Voltages, new energy vehicle charging pile were not clearly mentioned, while the integrated infrastructure has included smart traffic infrastructure and smart energy infrastructure, etc. Moreover, statement related to innovative infrastructure clarified for the first time that major science and technology infrastructure, science and education infrastructure, industry technology innovation infrastructure also belong to the scope of New Infrastructure Construction.

02

Focus on 4 Aspects

For the next step of the New Infrastructure Construction, Wu Hao stated that National Development and Reform Commission will cooperate with relevant departments to deepen research, strengthen overall planning, improve regulations, to focus on four aspects:

First, strength top-level design. Research and issue guidance on New Infrastructure Construction.

Second, optimize the policy environment. Focus on improving the long-term supply quality and efficiency of the new infrastructure, and revise and improve the access rules that are conductive to the sustainable and healthy development of emerging industries.

Third, grasp the construction projects. Accelerate the 5G network deployment, promote the optimization and upgrade of optical broadband network, accelerate the construction of nationwide big data centre; steadily promote the “digital” and “intelligent” upgrade of conventional infrastructure. Meanwhile, advance the deployment of innovative infrastructure.

Fourth, make overall planning and coordination. Strengthen inter-department collaboration, via pilot demonstration, compliance guidelines, etc, to accelerate industrial maturity and facility improvement. Promote cooperation between government and enterprises; stimulate the investment enthusiasm of all kinds of subjects; promote the mutual promotion and advancement of technological innovation, deployment, construction and integrated application.

03

48 Trillion Investment

Thanks to the repeatedly deployments in the policy sphere, New Infrastructure Construction has gone viral as it has been hotly sought after by the capital market. 24 provinces had generated investment worth 48 trillion yuan. 21 Data News Lab had found that by 5^th March, 24 provinces/cities had released their future investment plan that 22,000 investment projects worth of 48.6 trillion in total, amongst all, the total planned investment in 2020 is nearly 8 trillion yuan.

04

    The New Infrastructure Construction: PCB Industry may Usher in Rapid Growth

5G is the very basic foundation of New Infrastructure Construction. 5G network is the prerequisite of the application layer landing. The construction of base stations and data centers is accelerated, and the corresponding PCB iteration upgrades, industrial Internet, Internet of Things, consumer electronics terminals and other synchronous upgrades have driven the overall acceleration of the circuit board industry.

Prismark has predicted that in 2019, the global PCB output value is around US$63.7 billion, a simultaneous increase of 2.1%; by 2023, the global PCB output value will reach US$74.756 billion. The market scale of global PCB industry is still expanding. The market prospects are considerable.

With the high value of high-frequency and high-speed PCB, the boom period brought by the construction of 5G base station and the relatively high technical barriers, the performance of related industrial chain enterprises has increased rapidly. 2020 will be the first year of large-scale base station construction. With the adjustment of industrial structure and the improvement of productivity concentration, the production technology of China's PCB leading enterprises will be further improved. In the future, with the emergence of new demands such as automotive electronics, data center and artificial intelligence, PCB industry will usher in new growth points.

Specifically, base station antennas, power amplifiers, automotive radars, etc. are mainly high-frequency, while servers, base station transmission layers, etc. are mainly high-speed materials. With the upgrading of materials and processes, the marginal profit elasticity of core suppliers has increased significantly. For CCL manufacturers, the upgrading of base station and server PCB drives the high-frequency and high-speed CCL to speed up the production volume, and the continuous expansion of hydrocarbon high-frequency, high-speed M4 and M6 needs of core manufacturers is expected to usher in a rise in both volume and price.