The world market for printed circuit boards (PCBs) reached an estimated $58.6 billion in value in 2015 according to IPC’s World PCB Production Report for the Year 2015.This represents a nominal decrease of 2.7 percent from 2014, but factoring out the effects of exchange rate fluctuations, the growth of PCB output was actually up 2.0 percent in real terms.Developed by a team of the world’s leading PCB industry analysts, the annual study is the definitive source of PCB production data. It includes estimates of the value of PCB production in 11 product categories in each of the world’s major PCB-producing countries and regions.Data within the report show that the worldwide flexible circuit growth far outpaced rigid PCB production, which decreased.
According to the report, real growth in the value of PCB production in 2015 was up in most regions of the world in 2015. In the Americas, the industry experienced a decline with real growth of -2.7 percent. Asia now accounts for 91 percent of world PCB production. The world PCB market in 2016 is expected to continue experiencing slow growth in real terms.