According to a report by Economic Daily, CCL makers have lifted product prices by about 20% to 30% over the past nearly six months as upstream material costs rose across the board. Most PCB manufacturers have not passed those increases on fast enough, with a delay of roughly two to three months, and gross margins have been eroded as a result.
Institutional investors said some PCB makers will begin raising prices from the third quarter of this year, with the benefit expected to start showing up and profitability at related companies seen improving.
Substrate materials remain in short supply
Analysts said that on the substrate side, electronic fiberglass cloth led by T glass, as well as copper foil and drill bits, continues to face shortages. Among them, T glass is seeing the most severe gap, with some manufacturers reporting a shortfall of as much as 20%. That shortage is expected to last into next year.
More room for price increases in the second half
The market expects substrate makers to move into a supply-demand imbalance in the second half of the year, driven by demand for AI GPUs and ASIC high-performance computing and by continued tightness in key raw materials. Substrate makers are expected to keep using rolling price adjustments, and quotes still have room to rise by a double-digit percentage.
The report added that strong AI-related demand and specification upgrades in next-generation products continue to support optimism for CCL makers, as both prices and shipment volumes improve. With raw materials still tight and lead times for high-end CCL continuing to extend, the price-uptrend in products remains intact. The market remains positive on Taiwan-based CCL makers Taiwan Union Technology and ITEQ.
As the substrate gap gradually widens, pricing power is also expected to improve for substrate makers, and the uptrend in pricing is seen continuing. The market also remains positive on Taiwan substrate suppliers, including Nan Ya PCB and related companies in the supply chain.