AuguryCar-electronics boom is lifting the PCB market toward a nearly $12 billion prize by 2030
This article was written by the Augury Times
Valuates’ call and what it means for investors today
Research firm Valuates says the global automotive printed circuit board (PCB) market will grow to about USD 11.91 billion by 2030. That implies a compound annual growth rate of roughly 7.8% from a 2024 base around USD 7.6 billion. For investors, the message is simple: steady, multiyear electronics content growth in cars is a reliable demand tailwind for the right suppliers, but the path will be lumpy.
Put another way, buyers of automotive-exposed suppliers should expect a long runway of rising orders tied to electric vehicle (EV) adoption, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and richer in-car electronics. At the same time, near-term stock moves will still track cyclical swings in vehicle production, supply-chain hiccups, and the timing of design wins — not just the headline growth rate.
Why circuit boards matter more now than before
Three trends behind the 7.8% CAGR are easy to spot. First, EVs replace many mechanical parts with electronics and power modules, and those systems need more and thicker PCBs. Second, ADAS — the cameras, radars and central compute that help a vehicle see and decide — uses high-density interconnect (HDI) and flexible boards that carry premium prices. Third, modern cars are packed with connectivity, entertainment, domain controllers and body electronics, each adding layers of PCB content per vehicle.
Real examples: a basic combustion compact once had a handful of small boards; an EV with a central compute unit, battery management, power conversion and multiple sensor modules requires dozens of boards of different complexity. That rising per-vehicle content, combined with growing EV and connected-car volumes, is the engine behind the forecast.
Where the growth is likely to come from — regions, vehicle types and board types
Valuates’ topline projection is built on familiar industry patterns. Asia-Pacific remains the largest regional market by far because most vehicle production and PCB manufacturing sit there. Passenger cars account for the bulk of demand today, while commercial vehicles and specialty segments may grow faster as electrification expands into trucks and buses.
On the product side, conventional rigid PCBs still represent the largest slice of revenue, but flex and HDI boards are the fastest-growing categories. These advanced boards are used in camera modules, high-density controllers and battery-management electronics — the exact applications expanding fastest in EVs and ADAS-equipped cars.
The forecast assumes steady EV adoption and no major, prolonged supply shocks. It is sensitive to a few variables: how fast OEMs push ADAS from level 1 to level 2-plus features, the pace of EV penetration in China and Europe, and short-term factory output in response to consumer demand. If EV adoption accelerates beyond the base case, the market could be meaningfully larger; if macro weakness slows car sales, the curve flattens.
Which suppliers stand to gain and what to watch in their margins
The PCB supply chain is concentrated in Asia but includes public companies investors can track. North America’s TTM Technologies (TTMI) and global contract manufacturers like Flex Ltd. (FLEX) have exposure to automotive boards and assembly. Taiwan-based specialists such as Unimicron (3037.T) and Zhen Ding Technology (4958.T) are large producers of multi-layer and flexible PCBs that serve carmakers and tier-one electronics suppliers.
Tier-one automotive electronics companies and module suppliers — firms such as Aptiv (APTV) — buy many of these boards and add systems integration. The winners will be producers that can offer high-yield HDI and fine-pitch flex boards with reliable automotive-grade quality while keeping costs and capacity balanced.
Margin drivers are straightforward: advanced PCB types command higher prices and gross margins, scale lowers fixed costs, and long-term supply contracts reduce volatility. Supply constraints — substrate shortages, copper costs, factory bottlenecks — can squeeze margins temporarily and create winners and losers based on who secured capacity first.
How investors should think about positioning and near-term signals
For portfolios, the outlook is a positive backdrop for companies with clear, growing automotive revenue and exposure to flex/HDI segments. That said, investors must weigh revenue opportunity against valuation, cyclicality and execution risk. Companies trading at premium multiples on the promise of automotive growth need to show improving product mix, rising design wins with OEMs, and visible order-book growth to justify those prices.
Practical watch-list items: percent of sales tied to automotive versus consumer electronics, share of revenue from advanced PCBs, reported backlog and customer concentration, capex plans to expand automotive-grade capacity, and timing of major design wins or platform starts announced by OEMs. Quarterly earnings, order-book disclosures and supplier commentary on lead times will be the clearest near-term catalysts.
How much trust to place in Valuates’ projection and the key downside risks
Valuates published its estimate via a press release; such vendor studies are useful for a directional view but rely on assumptions that may be opaque. Common limits: forecasts often assume steady macro growth and smooth technology transitions, and they may understate the impact of semiconductor shortages, raw-material spikes, or slower-than-expected EV adoption.
Downside risks include a macro slowdown that cuts vehicle sales, prolonged chip constraints that delay system launches, and any rapid shift in OEM design choices that reduces per-vehicle PCB content. Upside comes from faster EV penetration, accelerated ADAS rollouts, or a wave of retrofit/aftermarket electronics.
Investors who want to rely on this thesis should monitor OEM production plans, supplier earnings and design-win announcements. Those are the concrete datapoints that separate optimistic industry studies from investible trends.
Photo: Tim Mossholder / Pexels
Sources