What’s Your 2025 PCB Buying Strategy?

The industry will face old and new challenges in the new year.

This year’s supply chain issues and looming economic uncertainty have many PCB buyers wondering about 2025.

Here are the top three challenges the PCB industry will face next year. How prepared are you?

Precious metals. The price of gold is up nearly 30% this year, hitting another all-time high last month. As a consequence, PCB buyers should expect a price bump in board pricing for both new and repeat orders.

Heightened concerns about inflation and economic stability continue to make gold an attractive safe haven. Even with hopes of a better economy next year, don’t expect prices to drop to 2023 levels any time soon.

Board buyers should alert customers and seriously consider alternative metal finishes for their PCBs. While ENIG is one of the most popular, do you need it on every board your company buys? And does your PCB really require hard gold fingers (or as I call it, “jewelry”), or will the lower-cost ENIG fingers suffice?

Assemblers should consider using metal finishes like HASL, LFHASL, OSP or tin. Silver is another possibility, but as a semi-precious metal, its pricing – while much lower than gold – is likely to fluctuate as well.

PCB buyers need to discuss with their production and process personnel which products could use a less costly metal finish to offset any price increases. Once determined, buyers need to contact the PCB supplier to issue the appropriate engineering change notices to implement the new process.

Out of China. Geopolitical tensions, along with the supply chain concerns that have come about during and since the Covid pandemic, have forced many OEMs and EMS companies to look outside of China to source their PCB needs. But it’s a task that is easier said than done.

India, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are trying to mimic China’s success; however, they fall short when it comes to higher-mix, lower-volume (HMLV) and higher-technology PCB manufacturing. That said, since early 2022, many prominent PCB manufacturing companies from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are planning to build or are currently building PCB manufacturing facilities in those nations.

But the number of available manufacturers that can produce HMLV in a timely manner is not as plentiful outside China. This will continue to be a serious challenge for PCB buyers if and when tariffs and geopolitical tensions force them to look elsewhere for board manufacturing.

Without tariffs, PCBs manufactured outside China in nations such as India, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam average 10-15% higher than boards built inside China. In addition, the average time to ship orders is much longer, averaging five to eight weeks. In comparison, China ships most product in three to four weeks or less.

So it’s not as simple as just moving production to another country. And even if tariffs higher than 25% are imposed and PCB manufacturing in China no longer makes sense, board prices in the US and other countries are highly likely to go up because of capacity limits.

Everyone will be paying more and waiting longer for their boards.

The next 18 to 24 months will determine how successful out-of-China PCB manufacturing will become. The strength of the world economy and the politics that are put into play will determine the outcome.

Component obsolescence. Those in the sustainability industry predict next year will be a challenge when it comes to component obsolescence. This is a risk that may prevent many OEM or EMS companies from completing their assemblies, or result in them being stuck with partial builds in inventory until the original component becomes available.

When a semiconductor component becomes obsolete or has a lead time beyond 52 weeks, finding a direct replacement that fits the existing system’s footprint can be challenging.

A product redesign might be necessary if a lifetime buy of a component that is about to become obsolete is not available. A costly redesign at the system level may not be needed, however, if the redesign can be performed at the component level with a PCB interposer or adapter.

An interposer (also known as a daughterboard) is a small electronic assembly that has a custom-designed PCB with components that mimic the function(s) of the original IC. That PCB contains the I/O interconnect that emulates, or is an upgrade of, the performance of the original IC.

More importantly, it is manufactured with the same footprint as the original IC, can be shipped in tape-and-reel or a JEDEC tray and attaches using conventional SMT assembly processes.

An interposer provides a flexible, cost-effective and efficient solution to the challenge of semiconductor obsolescence or unavailability.

The PCB interposer acts as a bridge between the new component and the old system, permitting the integration of modern semiconductors into legacy systems without the need for extensive redesign.

By permitting the integration of newer semiconductor technologies into older systems, adapters and interposers ensure these systems continue to function and remain relevant, despite the original components being phased out or not immediately available.

Implementing an adapter is typically faster than undertaking a full system redesign. This speed is crucial for industries where time to market and system uptime are critical factors, as interposers eliminate the need for extensive technical re-evaluation and redesign, simplifying the upgrade process.

Interposers also offer PCB buyers and engineers more options. They are often more economical than redesigning the entire system or product to accommodate new semiconductor components, saving time and money.

Custom-made interposers also prevent costly last-minute or risky gray-market buys.

Of course, 2025 will also pose the usual challenges every supply chain faces. We may be dealing with fuel surcharges, labor strikes and material availability issues. But I believe the three I’ve outlined here will complicate those challenges. Do you have a carefully planned 2025 PCB buying strategy? If not, now is the time to develop one.

Greg Papandrew has more than 25 years’ experience selling PCBs directly for various fabricators and as founder of a leading distributor. He is cofounder of DirectPCB (directpcb.com) and can be reached at greg@directpcb.com.