AI Demand Triggers Massive PCB Shortage: Orders Booked Until 2030, Material Costs Surge 12x
AI computing demand is squeezing PCB production capacity, leading to 30-month lead times and a 12x surge in material costs, impacting traditional PC manufacturing.
According to a report by Tom's Hardware citing Nikkei Asia, the AI industry is consuming manufacturing resources previously dedicated to serving PC, smart device, and gadget makers. Following RAM, GPUs, and SSDs, the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) has become the next basic electronic component facing severe shortages.
The report indicates that several leading PC and PCB industry managers have warned of shortages and price rises for PCBs and their subcomponents in the coming months. An anonymous executive from an American PC maker stated, “Even though PC shipments could decline again next year, we are still struggling to secure enough PCB supplies to meet our needs.” Several commenters attributed this crisis to AI computing demand eating up production capacity.
Upstream in the supply chain, the situation is more dire. One PCB maker noted that lead times for many products have doubled, with some orders taking as long as 30 months to fulfill. Another supplier explained that new orders placed today would not be fulfilled until late 2028. Additionally, costs for Copper Clad Laminates (CCL), a key raw material for PCBs, have surged at least 12 times since July. One of the world’s leading CCL suppliers told Nikkei Asia that its order book is currently filling up to 2030, despite plans to triple capacity by 2028.
In related developments, Nvidia recently announced partnerships with major chip substrate makers, including Japan's Ibiden, South Korea's Samsung Electro-Mechanics, and Taiwan's Unimicron. Chip substrates are essentially tiny, intricate PCBs on which CPUs and GPUs are mounted. Unimicron is looking at expanding capacity by 2.5x over the next three years.