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As PC makers like HP and Dell map out their hardware supply needs for 2027, this once-overlooked part of the electronics chain has suddenly turned into a major roadblock. About 20% of the equipment required to produce advanced substrates and PCBs now has lead times twice as long as before, with some tools facing delivery delays of up to 30 months, according to Chien.
Industry managers say factory lines worldwide are pivoting toward high-margin AI infrastructure, leaving traditional consumer electronics, including laptops and smartphones, scrambling for capacity, according to a report by Nikkei Asia. First it was memory chips (RAM) and processors, now, the boom in artificial intelligence (AI) computing is squeezing another foundational piece of hardware: printed circuit boards (PCBs) and chip substrates. PCBs and chip substrates are a crucial part and are the wiring backbone inside nearly every electronic product. They let chips talk to one another and shape overall system performance. They have been viewed as a low-cost, low-profile part of the bill of materials compared to advanced silicon but now have become vital to keeping data moving quickly and managing heat in AI clusters.