Current Market Situation

Laminate manufacturers raised prices again in August — Kingboard by 10% on FR4 and up to 20% on thin prepregs, Panasonic by 20 to 25% effective August 1st. Our supplier network in China is already expecting the next round for October. Copper is trading around 47% above last year's level. Material price pressure therefore remains unchanged.

Availability presents a more nuanced picture than industry reports suggest. Standard FR4 is available on the market, and there's no acute shortage. However, laminate manufacturers are allocating material by priority, and priority goes to those who pay: PCB manufacturers paying in advance get supplied first. Last week, we received 1,300 m² of single-layer 1.6 mm material within a week. This is possible because we prepay our factories, which puts us at the front of the allocation queue. Part of the order surge reported across the industry is also due to pull-forward effects rather than genuine end demand.

Three areas remain tight: single- and double-sided builds from 2.0 mm final thickness onward, where some factories are now applying multilayer rates; thick cores for multilayers; and thin prepregs like 1080 and 106, which manufacturers now only supply via quotas. In these areas, standard business is competing directly with AI applications.

We continue to pass on only part of the manufacturers' price increases.

Why ENIG Isn't Getting Cheaper

Many customers ask why the gold price decline of over 20% since January hasn't translated into lower ENIG (Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold) prices. Gold is indeed the largest raw material cost component in ENIG, and factories purchase gold salt daily at the spot price, paying less today than in January. However, the ENIG surcharge is calculated as a fixed markup per square meter, and that markup follows raw material prices quickly on the way up, but only comes down when the market forces it to. It's the same phenomenon as at gas stations: when crude oil rises, the surcharge shows up at the pump the next morning; when it falls, it takes weeks. In a market where material is being allocated, this downward pressure currently doesn't exist. We're not hearing from anyone in China talking about falling ENIG prices. We therefore don't expect any relief as long as base material allocation continues, and we'll pass on any adjustment immediately once it comes.

The second wave of price increases expected in spring has arrived, and individual price-increase letters tend to understate the true extent. A twelve-month view tells a clearer story. Spot prices for standard FR4 laminate in China have roughly tripled within twelve months.

Even the Korean import statistics, a slow-moving average across all material classes, recorded copper-clad laminate (CCL) at USD 20,728 per tonne in March, compared to around USD 11,900 a year earlier. That is an increase of approximately 75 percent and the first reading above USD 20,000 since records began in 2000.

Since April alone, laminate manufacturers have raised prices in four rounds by a cumulative 50 percent, with the most recent increase of up to 15 percent in early July.

A rough example calculation helps put the impact on PCB prices into perspective. For standard multilayers with four to eight layers in series volumes from Chinese production, base material accounts for roughly half of manufacturing costs, with labour and processes making up the rest. If material costs triple, the material half grows from 50 to 150 cost units while the process half stays at 50. One hundred units become two hundred, and total costs effectively double, not yet accounting for new surcharges on prepreg, thick stackups and heavy copper.

The increases actually reaching the market are somewhat below this level, and we have not passed on increases of this magnitude to our customers. In German and European production, the impact is lower still, as the material share of total costs is smaller and labour and equipment costs have remained stable. The prices of our Made in Germany online prototype calculator have in fact remained unchanged throughout 2026.

Standard FR4 is not becoming scarce because material is missing, but because capacity is being redirected. High-performance laminates for AI servers command multiples of the price of standard material, and manufacturers are allocating their presses and ovens accordingly. This is therefore not a short-term spike, but a structural shift that will remain with the market for some time.

There is an additional structural constraint: prepregs have a refrigerated shelf life of only around six months. This means that stockpiling is limited precisely where prices are rising most sharply. Reliable forecasts and firm blanket orders are therefore currently the most effective lever for securing both price and supply.

A potential relief is emerging on the gold side. The gold price is now significantly below its record at the start of the year. However, this has not yet been reflected in manufacturer prices for surface finishes such as electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG). As soon as that changes, we will pass the savings on.

The market is currently being driven by two simultaneous developments. First, the global expansion of AI data centres is drawing away raw materials that are also used in standard PCBs, primarily copper and fibreglass. Second, the aftermath of the war in Iran continues to create shortages on raw material markets. In addition to oil, sulphuric acid and resins are also in short supply. Copper is also around 30 percent above the prior year and hit an all-time high in early 2026.

A mechanism that is often overlooked is critical here. The shortage starts with high-performance materials for AI hardware but spills over into the standard segment because both are produced in the same facilities. In fibreglass weaving, mills are shifting capacity to the high-margin specialty glass for high-speed layers, which also creates a shortage of standard E-glass for FR4. The same is happening with copper foil: manufacturers are prioritising the low-loss HVLP foil (HVLP = Hyper Very Low Profile) for high-speed applications, leaving standard foil behind. Chinese export quotas on E-glass and price increases across the entire product line add to the pressure. Demand originates at the high end, but the bottleneck ultimately affects everyone.

Resin is a special case. In early April, the petrochemical complex in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, caught fire following a missile attack and production came to a halt. The missiles were intercepted, but falling debris ignited the complex. Operator SABIC supplies around 70 percent of the world's available high-purity PPE resin (PPE = polyphenylene ether).

This resin is used primarily for true high-speed and low-loss laminates, such as those in AI servers, 5G and radar applications, and barely at all for standard FR4. Unlike the situation with glass and copper, there is no spillover effect on standard material here, because FR4 simply contains no PPE resin. The resin shortage therefore targets high-frequency technology specifically, while FR4 is under pressure primarily through copper, glass and generally scarce epoxy resin.

The market has not only become more expensive but has also become less flexible in some areas. Several base material manufacturers are barely accepting orders for standard material with final thicknesses above 1.2 mm and copper weights above 35 µm. These constructions are typically not inner layers and tie up a disproportionate amount of material, which is why manufacturers are directing their capacity towards the higher-margin inner layer business. Materials such as 1080 prepreg and certain copper foils are also only available in limited quantities at times.

What This Means for Prices

Market reports (Goldman Sachs, via Reuters) cite surcharges of up to 40 percent in April and around 30 percent for copper foil since the start of the year. We are not passing these increases on in full. In April, we passed on significantly less to our customers on average, as our purchasing volume grew by over 50 percent, allowing us to negotiate better terms. The new wave of price increases expected for summer materialised in July (see update of July 27, 2026).

PCB manufacturers are also no longer accepting long-term price or volume commitments. Hedging contracts that would allow prices to be locked in are no longer enforceable in the market. Firm purchase orders are the only option. We are therefore unable to prevent the increases, only to cushion them.

On a positive note, our German manufacturing partners in particular have learned from the pandemic and are deliberately maintaining high material inventories, with further volumes already in transit.

What We Can Do Together Now

We cannot pre-allocate stock without firm orders, but together there are several effective levers we can use.

When the Situation Will Ease

The two-part distinction described above is helpful here. The war-related effects are already easing: the situation in Iran is showing signs of de-escalation, oil prices are falling, and the resin shortage at SABIC is expected to ease from the first quarter of 2027.

The structural pressure from the expansion of AI data centres, however, will persist as long as it continues to absorb copper and fibreglass. Short-term bottlenecks are therefore easing, but the underlying trend is not. For base material, market observers expect elevated prices at least through the first half of 2027.

This assessment is based on our own supplier network and ongoing market monitoring, as well as external press sources.

Please feel free to contact us. We are happy to discuss your specific situation and find the right approach together.

Sources

• Copper price and all-time high: London Metal Exchange (LME), 2026.
• PCB and copper foil price increases: Goldman Sachs, reported by Reuters, April 2026.
• High-purity PPE resin outage, Jubail petrochemical complex: Reuters and Tom’s Hardware, April 2026.
• Fibreglass, E-glass and low-Dk glass, capacity situation: TrendForce, 2025 to 2026.
• Sulphuric acid export restrictions (China, from May 2026): Chinese customs notice and industry reports, 2026.
• Price increases and spot price level for base material (Kingboard, standard FR4): industry and financial press, July 2026.
• CCL import prices per tonne: Korean customs statistics, March 2026.
• Base material price cycle forecast through H1 2027: China Merchants Securities, July 2026.
• Gold price: spot market, July 2026.
• Base material availability and supply capability: own supplier network in China, India and Europe.