The Global Electronics Association reports April 2026 North American PCB bookings surged 25.5% year-over-year with a book-to-bill ratio of 1.24 — the strongest reading in over a year — signaling expanding production backlogs driven by AI infrastructure and defense demand.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics is piloting terahertz (THz) non-destructive inspection technology with Korean firm Actro to detect microscopic cracks in glass substrates — a key quality challenge as the industry moves toward glass-based semiconductor packaging targeted for 2028 commercialization.

India's PCB industry confronts mounting supply constraints driven by raw material inflation, logistics disruptions, and heavy import dependence, as global AI hardware demand diverts high-end CCL materials away from price-sensitive markets.

Major CCL suppliers including TUC, Iteq, and Elite Material have issued multiple price increase rounds in H1 2026, with high-end laminates rising 20-40%. The global PCB market officially crosses $100 billion as AI infrastructure spending reshapes material economics.

Deep tech startup Itera emerges from stealth with the world's first fluid circuit board — a glass and liquid metal platform that lets engineers reconfigure circuits in under a minute, eliminating weeks-long PCB prototyping cycles.