Automotive PCB and High-End Circuit Board Orders Surge as AI Computing Power Drives Industry Growth
Recently, the printed circuit board industry has seen a surge in orders, with high-end products in short supply. Some leading manufacturers have orders scheduled through 2027. Industry insiders point out that the high-end circuit board order surge reflects that the AI computing power boom has spread to the hardware foundation. This demand explosion driven by AI large models is accelerating, and the industry chain is welcoming a new round of value revaluation.
Corporate performance has already reflected industry prosperity. On August 2, PCB design manufacturer Yibo Technology released its 2026 semi-annual report. The report shows that the company achieved operating revenue of 709 million yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 41.63 percent. Net profit attributable to the parent company was 63.8293 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1,561.55 percent. Previously, another domestic PCB design and manufacturing manufacturer, Xingsen Technology, released a semi-annual performance forecast, expecting net profit attributable to the parent company in the first half of the year to be 100 million to 120 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 246.83 percent to 316.19 percent.
TrendForce data shows that against the background of rapid growth in AI inference demand, global AI server shipments are expected to increase by 28.3 percent year-on-year in 2026. The number of layers in AI server-related PCBs has generally increased to 20 to 30 layers or higher, with higher requirements for impedance control and crosstalk suppression. The PCB product structure is shifting from low-end and mid-range general-purpose boards to high-multilayer, high-order HDI boards, and high-speed high-frequency boards.
Wang Chen, director of the Next-Generation High-Frequency and High-Speed Copper-Clad Laminate Innovation Center at the Greater Bay Area National Innovation Center International Headquarters, introduced that AI computing power has very high requirements for high-frequency, high-speed, and low-loss signal transmission, which requires PTFE copper-clad laminate. Orders for such high-end PCB from leading enterprises are already full and locked until next year.
A person in charge of a PCB supply platform in Shenzhen also said that the industry is generally short of materials. Many upstream suppliers have issued PCB price increase letters. The price increase for high-speed PCB has exceeded four times. Many downstream manufacturers have to raise prices accordingly, or even delay delivery.
This shows that the AI computing power boom has substantially spread to the hardware foundation. Gong Chao, a researcher at Tongji University’s National Innovation and Development Research Institute, said that an industrial chain reaction around computing power infrastructure has already started. From the previous AI algorithms and large model boom to the GPU and optical module boom, it has now spread to the high-end circuit board and other underlying basic hardware boom.
Experts believe that the high-end circuit board order surge conveys at least three signals. First, AI demand has landed from chip concepts to physical hardware construction, indicating that cloud vendors and computing power operators are no longer just ordering chips but are launching large-scale AI server complete machine procurement, intelligent computing center civil construction, and equipment installation. Second, it shows obvious differentiation in the industry chain. This round of demand is an exclusive increment for AI computing power. High-multilayer, low-loss high-speed circuit boards for computing power and high-speed communications are in short supply and rising in price. It is not a recovery of the entire electronics industry. Third, constrained by current insufficient supply and the new supply cycle, the high-end circuit board order surge is expected to continue for some time. The construction of a high-end high-speed PCB production line, equipment procurement, and customer certification cycle takes at least one year or more than two years. In addition, upstream copper board and copper foil expansion also requires a certain cycle, so the supply side of high-end circuit boards faces rigid constraints.
Which industries will receive the spillover dividend in the future. Computing power metals may be the next explosion point. At present, most links in the entire AI industry chain have completed transmission and are in a state of strong demand and industry prosperity. Gong Chao pointed out that the upstream metal industry will be driven in the future.
The latest data from the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association shows that in the first half of the year, driven by artificial intelligence computing power infrastructure, prices of nonferrous metals such as copper, aluminum, tin, tantalum, and indium rose significantly. Among them, tin prices rose 40 percent in half a year, indium prices rose 60 percent, and tantalum prices soared 158 percent.
Bian Jiang, vice president of the Precious Metals Working Committee of the China National Resources Recycling Association, introduced that the current computing power industry chain is driving explosive demand for various industrial metals. Platinum group metals also play an important role in the artificial intelligence field, such as platinum-rhodium alloy for high-end silicone and high-end electronic cloth, ruthenium for computing power storage, and palladium for semiconductor materials.
Experts also remind that it is necessary to be alert to the risk of industry chain downturn. At present, many upstream enterprises, such as high-end circuit board and optical fiber manufacturers, are actively promoting capacity expansion. If large model implementation falls short of expectations in two or three years, combined with concentrated capacity release, related industries will face obvious downside risks, Gong Chao said.
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