Flexible Thinking: Designing Flex Circuits for Dynamic Reliability
Global PCB Connections: Rigid-flex and Flexible PCBs—The Backbone of Modern Electronics
Happy’s Tech Talk #29: Bend-to-Install Semi-flex FR-4
While the AI revolution has the world focused on the promise of solving our most complex challenges, some laminate and PCB fabricators are raising concerns that the high-performance materials used to build AI data centers will gobble up the precious resources needed to produce them.
PCB industry expert Mark Goodwin, COO of Ventec International, a laminate and equipment supplier, has expressed his concerns about the critical shortage of glass and copper, which he believes will worsen. He has emphasized that copper-clad laminates (CCLs), the foundational substrate for PCBs, are closely linked to macroeconomic forces, including fluctuating copper prices and demand from data centers and advanced electronics. High-end AI applications absorb a disproportionate share of materials, manufacturing capability, and supply chain attention.
So, what happens to everything else that requires a PCB when the market cannot secure supply at a viable cost or to a scale matching consumer demand? We know that the demand for these products will not disappear, but the capacity to support them will be squeezed significantly.
The Great Reallocation: AI Claims the Supply Chain
After China entered the WTO, the rebalancing of the world’s manufacturing base accelerated, and the reshaping of some of the world’s largest economies. Major OEMs and manufacturers—HP, Dell, Motorola, Flex, and Apple—migrated their manufacturing operations to Asia, which had a significant effect on PCB manufacturing in the United States. In 1990, there were roughly 1,500 PCB fabrication shops in North America. By 2010, that number had dropped to 300, and today, there are an estimated 150 or fewer PCB shops.
AI is, unarguably, the next tipping point. It will bring sweeping transformation to the global supply chain and the world economic balance. Chips are at the core of the AI era, and the PCBs that support them have become central to one of the industry's most significant growth opportunities in decades. PCBs are finally getting their due, viewed now as critical, even strategic.
Continue reading this article in the May 2026 issue of I-Connect007 Magazine.
