Core Insights of the Report
The latest report from Prismark, based on global electronic systems, PCB (Printed Circuit Board), and substrate market data from 2025 to 2030, centers on the explosive growth of AI data centers reshaping the PCB industry. It reveals a structural shift in the market from consumer-driven to infrastructure-driven, while clarifying the development trends and core constraints across various segments, regions, and supply chain links.
(I) Global Electronic Systems Market: AI Servers as the Core Growth Engine, Sustaining High Overall Growth The global electronic systems market was revised upward to $2.81 trillion in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 10%. Among them, the server/data storage segment grew by an unexpected 42% to $413 billion. In 2026, it is expected to exceed $3 trillion, an 8% year-on-year increase. The server market remains the primary growth driver (up 32% year-on-year), with the core driving force being the capital expenditure (CAPEX) of AI data centers.
Regarding the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 2025 to 2030, server/data storage (10.9%), military/aerospace (5.9%), and industrial (5.5%) lead the pack. The TV market is the only segment with negative growth (-2.6%), while consumer electronics overall exhibit low-to-medium growth.
(II) PCB Market: Significant Recovery in 2025, AI Driving the Explosion of High-End Categories, and Structural Polarization The global PCB market grew by 15.8% year-on-year to $85.2 billion in 2025, and is projected to increase by 12.5% to $95.8 billion in 2026. The CAGR from 2025 to 2030 will reach 7.7%, with the core growth driven by AI infrastructure, high-speed networking, and satellite communications.
Product Structure: High-end categories become the main growth drivers, while standard categories stagnate. From 2025 to 2030, IC substrates (CAGR 10.9%), HDI boards (9.2%), and multilayer boards (8.0%) show significant growth, whereas flexible boards (3.8%) and standard boards (2.8%) grow at a low pace. Within the AI PCB/substrate market, high-layer-count (HLC) boards and HLC+HDI boards for AI servers represent roughly 50% of the market, while IC substrates account for 35%. The demand for >30-layer HLC boards will continue to surge.
Application Structure: The demand for server/data storage PCBs surged, increasing by 43.6% year-on-year in 2025, with a CAGR of 17.2% from 2025 to 2030. In HDI board applications, the share for server/data storage applications jumped from 3.4% in 2024 to 14.1% in 2025E, and is projected to reach 28.4% in 2030F, while the proportion for mobile phones continues to decline.
Industry Landscape: Shifting from "cost competition" to "performance competition," with shortened product cycles and increased capital intensity. The demand for AI infrastructure only benefits a few high-end PCB/substrate suppliers, while most traditional PCB enterprises face the dual pressure of stagnant demand and rising raw material costs.
(III) Regional Landscape: China Remains the Core of PCB Production, with Southeast Asia/Rest of the World (SEA/ROW) Growing the Fastest In 2025E, China's share of global PCB production reaches 57.5%, slightly rising to 57.7% in 2026F, and dropping marginally to 55.6% in 2030F. It remains the world's largest production base, with a CAGR of 7.0% from 2025 to 2030.
Southeast Asia and Rest of the World (SEA/ROW) is the fastest-growing region, with a CAGR of 13.6% from 2025 to 2030. Its share is projected to rise to 11.1% in 2030F, reflecting the echelon transfer of the industry to Southeast Asia.
Relying on high-end substrate and high-layer-count board technologies, Chinese Taiwan (8.1%), Japan (7.8%), and South Korea (7.7%) maintain medium-to-high growth rates and serve as core supply bases for high-end categories.
(IV) Core Links in the Supply Chain: High-End Materials, Equipment, and Advanced Packaging Technologies Become the Key to Competition Raw Materials: AI drives a surge in demand for high-end materials, leading to tight supplies of low-CTE glass cloth, low-Dk/Df resins, HVLP4/5 copper foils, and ultra-low-loss copper-clad laminates (CCLs). The capacity of low-CTE glass cloth will gradually expand in 2026, but a short-term gap still exists. The overall revenue of CCL enterprises increased by 40.1% year-on-year in 2025, with high-end CCLs (very low/ultra-low loss) becoming the core growth category.
Equipment: The PCB equipment market grew by 21% year-on-year in 2025. Chinese domestic equipment firms (such as CFMEE, Kunshan Dongwei, and Hansen CNC) grew far faster than international peers. The demand for laser drilling, inspection, and wet process equipment explodes, reflecting the breakthroughs of domestic equipment in high-end segments.
Advanced Packaging Technologies: CoWoS is the current mainstream for AI chip advanced packaging. TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) will launch a 9.5-reticle CoWoS-L in 2027. EMIB (Intel) becomes a supplement to CoWoS due to its cost advantage. EMIB-T integrates TSV (Through-Silicon Via) technology, supporting HBM4 integration and large-size packaging, gradually gaining market recognition. As an emerging technology, CoWoP bypasses traditional substrates by directly bonding chips and interposers to advanced PCBs. It holds potential in performance and cost but faces challenges in design, materials, and process transfer.
(V) Market Competition: Performance Divergence Among Top PCB Enterprises, with Chinese Companies Shining In 2025, the total revenue of the global top 40 PCB enterprises increased by 19% year-on-year. Chinese enterprises (including those from Chinese Taiwan) dominate the market. Dongguan Shengyi (97.8%), Jinlu Circuit (59.6%), and Si Flex (56.4%) led revenue growth, while Dongshan Precision (32.2%), Kinwong Electronic (19.2%), and Shennan Circuits (19.0%) maintained strong growth.
Corporate performance diverges significantly. Enterprises focusing on AI high-end categories grow much faster than traditional consumer electronics PCB companies, while some Japanese firms (such as Mektec) saw revenue decline (-9.2%).
Professional Recommendations for Future Development (I) Enterprise Level: Focus on High-End Tracks and Transform Towards AI Infrastructure and High-Value-Added Categories Product Structure Upgrade: Traditional PCB enterprises need to gradually reduce the proportion of standard boards and ordinary multilayer boards in their capacity. They should focus on deploying high-layer-count (HLC) boards for AI servers, HLC+HDI boards, very low/ultra-low-loss HDI boards for high-speed communications, and IC substrates (especially FCBGA substrates), seizing the three high-growth application markets of server/data storage, industrial, and military/aerospace.
R&D Investment: Addressing the technical requirements of AI servers, increase R&D in high-layer-count board processes (over 80 layers), fine line width and spacing (<3.5 mil), and low-warpage large-size substrates. Keep up with new advanced packaging technologies like CoWoP and EMIB-T, and deploy substrate-like PCBs (SLP) and mSAP (modified semi-additive process) processes in advance to seize the technological initiative. Focus on high-end material matching, such as the adoption of low-CTE glass cloth, HVLP4/5 copper foils, and ultra-low-loss resins.
Customer Structure Optimization: Proactively engage key AI data center customers (NVIDIA, Google, Amazon, Huawei, cloud service providers (CSPs), and original design manufacturers (ODMs)) to join the supply chain for AI servers and high-speed networking equipment. Meanwhile, deploy in high-margin fields such as military/aerospace and medical sectors to diversify the volatility risks of the consumer electronics market.
Capacity and Capital Planning: High-end PCBs/substrates belong to the capital-intensive industry. Capacity should be reasonably expanded according to the CAPEX rhythm of AI data centers, with a focus on improving the capacity utilization rate of high-layer-count boards and IC substrates. At the same time, reserve R&D funds to cope with the pressure of technological iteration caused by shortened product cycles.
(II) Supply Chain Management: Ensure the Supply of High-End Materials and Establish a Diversified Supply Chain System Advance Lock-in of High-End Materials: For scarce materials such as low-CTE glass cloth, HVLP copper foils, and ultra-low-loss CCLs, sign long-term supply agreements with core suppliers (Nittobo, Taiwan Glass, Shengyi Technology, Elite Material Co., Ltd., etc.) to lock in capacity. Meanwhile, participate in upstream material R&D, promote domestic substitution of materials, and reduce supply chain risks.
Coping with Chip and Wafer Bottlenecks: Establish deep cooperation with foundries (TSMC, Intel, Samsung) and memory chip suppliers to plan chip/memory resources in advance. In response to the HBM shortage, deploy R&D for HBM supporting substrates/PCBs to seize the supporting demand brought by HBM capacity expansion.
Regional Capacity Layout: While consolidating domestic capacity in China, consider deploying low-to-medium-end PCB capacity in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand) to leverage local cost advantages and the trend of industrial transfer. High-end substrate and high-layer-count board capacities should remain in mainland China and Chinese Taiwan, relying on core technologies and supply chain supporting advantages.
(III) Domestic Equipment and Materials: Seize the Opportunity of Import Substitution and Break Through High-End Segments Domestic Equipment Enterprises: Continuously improve the performance of laser drilling, high-precision inspection, wet process, and lamination equipment to match the production requirements of high-end PCBs/substrates. Keep up with the equipment demand for new technologies like CoWoP and EMIB-T, and develop dedicated equipment. Strengthen cooperation with downstream PCB enterprises to achieve equipment customization and process adaptation.
Domestic Material Enterprises: Focus on breaking through the technical bottlenecks of high-end materials such as low-CTE glass cloth, ultra-low-loss resins, and HVLP4/5 copper foils, improving yield rates and reducing costs. Increase the product structure upgrade of copper-clad laminates, focus on deploying very low/ultra-low-loss CCLs, and meet the material demands of AI servers and high-speed networks.
The full report is available on the Chip Technology Circle Knowledge Planet platform for further reading.