According to the fourth-quarter report of Prismark in 2023, the global PCB industry's output value in 2023, measured in USD, decreased by 15.0% compared to the previous year.

Looking at the medium to long term, the industry is expected to maintain stable growth. The projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for global PCB output value from 2023 to 2028 is 5.4%. In terms of regions, the PCB industry in all global regions is showing a continuous growth trend. Among them, the composite growth rate in mainland China is 4.1%. In terms of product structure, packaging substrates, high-layer count boards (18 layers and above), and HDI boards are expected to maintain relatively high growth rates, with projected compound growth rates of 8.8%, 7.8%, and 6.2% respectively over the next five years.

For packaging substrate products, on one hand, the technological upgrades and expanded application scenarios of products such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, intelligent driving, and the Internet of Things drive a significant increase in demand for high-end chips and advanced packaging in the electronics industry. This, in turn, leads to the sustained growth of the global packaging substrate industry, particularly in high-end packaging substrates used in high-computing power and integration scenarios, showing a higher growth trend. On the other hand, increased support for the development of the semiconductor industry in China and additional investments will further accelerate the development of the domestic packaging substrate industry. In the short term, as semiconductor inventories of terminal manufacturers gradually return to normal levels, the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) predicts a 13.1% year-on-year growth in the global semiconductor market in 2024.

For PCB products, markets such as servers and data storage, communication, new energy and intelligent driving, and consumer electronics will continue to be important long-term growth drivers for the industry. From the perspective of the cloud, with the accelerated evolution of artificial intelligence, the ICT industry's demand for high computing power and high-speed networks is becoming increasingly urgent, driving the rapid growth of large-size, high-layer count, high-frequency/high-speed, advanced HDI, and high-heat dissipation PCB products. From the perspective of end-users, as AI applications in smartphones, PCs, smart wearables, IoT, and other products deepen, there is an explosive growth in the demand for edge computing capabilities and high-speed data exchange and transmission. Under these driving trends, the demand for related PCB products, such as high-frequency/high-speed, integration, miniaturization, lightweight, and high-heat dissipation, continues to grow in the field of end-user electronic devices.

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Source: Publicly available information from the internet.