IN Brief:
- PCB People has reported a record first half, with order income up 309%.
- New customers rose 30%, while new part numbers increased 36%.
- The performance comes amid pressure on PCB materials and high-speed laminate availability.
PCB People has reported record first-half growth, with order income up 309% compared with the same period last year as demand from electronics manufacturers increased across new customers and new part numbers.
The company recorded a 30% increase in new customers and a 36% rise in new part numbers during the first half of 2026. Those figures point to stronger demand for PCB sourcing, design support, fabrication coordination, and supply-chain assistance at a time when board availability is becoming a more visible constraint in electronics production.
PCB procurement has become more complicated as AI infrastructure, high-speed digital systems, defence electronics, industrial automation, and power electronics increase demand for advanced materials. High-speed laminates, copper inputs, specialist finishes, and qualified production capacity are all under pressure, and lead-time changes can quickly affect design release, prototype iteration, and production ramp schedules.
The PCB is no longer a passive carrier that can be finalised late in the engineering process. Stack-up, dielectric selection, impedance control, thermal management, via structure, manufacturability, inspection access, and test strategy all influence whether a design can be built reliably and sourced at acceptable cost. Material substitutions can affect signal integrity, RF behaviour, thermal performance, compliance, and yield, making availability part of the design decision rather than a purchasing afterthought.
The rise in new part numbers suggests active design and redesign work rather than simple repeat ordering. Engineering teams may be qualifying alternative suppliers, revising layouts, adapting to material availability, or moving more designs into production. Each step increases the need for closer coordination between design, procurement, fabrication, and assembly.
The same pattern runs through the wider electronics market. Q2’s sector analysis showed memory, packaging, optics, EDA automation, edge AI, and power delivery all carrying supply or design constraints into the second half of the year. PCBs sit beneath many of those trends, even when processors, memory, and power semiconductors attract more attention.
AI infrastructure is a particular source of demand because high-speed networking, accelerators, storage, power conversion, and advanced cooling all require demanding board technologies. As that market absorbs capacity and materials, industrial electronics companies can encounter longer lead times or higher prices even when their own volumes are modest.
That creates a planning problem for UK manufacturers. Prototype schedules, customer commitments, and compliance testing can be disrupted if PCB lead times stretch after a design has already been released. Early decisions on stack-up, panelisation, finish, documentation, second-source options, and acceptable materials can reduce risk, but only when board supply is treated as part of engineering strategy.
PCB People’s growth provides a useful signal from the board supply chain. Demand is rising, material pressure is present, and design teams that leave fabrication choices late will have less room to manoeuvre when capacity tightens.
