20th May 2026
In the last few months, pressure has continued to increase on the cost of bare PCB manufacturing, driven by a combination of shortages in raw material, geopolitical disruptions, and sustained demand from high-growth sectors. So much so, that many PCB fabricators/manufacturers are now unable to absorb ongoing increase, and are now forced to pass on any up lift to the end customer.
The main drivers appear to be bare laminate, Copper & Gold (glass fibre & resin, Cu & Au) which have seen consistent double digit increases from the beginning of the year. Sectors such as EV & AI continue to be major consumers, whilst seeing an increased demand for performance materials (used in AI) taking priority over standard FR4/FR2 laminates.
The typical consequence of this, is that lead-times have moved out & the ‘allocation’ of raw materials has moved in. Normally, availability would be quoted in weeks, now PCB fabricators are seeing lead-times moving out to months, (with up to 6 months for certain materials), making planning very difficult. This volatility of price, lead-time & supply has forced many suppliers to reduce their quote validity down to 5-7 days due to the ongoing uncertainty.
Another key factor in all this, is logistics, freight costs into Europe have increased for instance…sea freight up by +15 to +30%, air freight up by +20 to +40% and road freight up by +5 to +10%…
In summary, we are expecting to see increased bare PCB costs, increased lead-times & freight cost as with many other technical industries.
As of today, there appears to be no sign of this letting up…
For more information on how best to plan your PCB requirements in these turbulent times, please speak to the WPS team.
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