AI is splitting the PCB industry in two, says Yole

What happened

According to a press release from Yole Group on its new report 'The Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Industry 2026', dated November 11, 2026, the PCB industry ended 2025 with revenue of about USD 88 billion and is forecast to reach USD 140 billion by 2031, an average annual growth rate of 8%, but the AI segment is growing 45 to 70% a year while the commodity segment is barely growing. AI-grade boards and materials account for about 30% of the market today and are expected to make up more than half by 2031. Boards with 18 or more layers are expected to grow by 15.7% a year through 2031, while 4- to 6-layer boards grow by 2.3%. Since 2020, servers and data centres have risen from 16% to 25% of PCB demand, overtaking consumer electronics. According to Yole, PCB content per Nvidia rack increases by more than 200% in the new generations, including Vera Rubin, and 57% of the increase comes from board categories that didn't exist a generation ago; a custom accelerator carries roughly twice as much PCB content as a GPU. Yole expects the laminate market to double to USD 46 billion, and CCL now advances one generation every 18 to 24 months: M7 for Nvidia's GB300, M8 for Vera Rubin, M9 for Rubin Ultra in the second half of 2027 and M10 for the Feynman generation, with M9 laminate selling at four times the price of M7. Automotive is the second growth driver, expected by Yole to grow 14% a year to more than USD 23 billion in 2031, with EV powertrain boards growing 30% a year, ADAS central compute 46%, and content for combustion engine vehicles shrinking 15% a year; according to Yole, automotive will keep demand for high-end HDI going after hyperscaler capex normalises.

Impact and signal

Affected components and suppliers

Source and time

Source: Evertiq · 11/10/2026 · View original source