Shenzhen Consolidating Leading Position in China's Manufacturing Industry for PCBs

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March 13, 2025, 12:00 AM

The innovation hub and gadget capital of China, Shenzhen has come a long way since it became the country’s first special economic zone in 1980. Over the intervening years, the city has become arguably the center of the global electronics industry, with a comprehensive supply chain and the infrastructure to support it.

In the manufacturing sector for PCBs, the backbone of modern electronics, Shenzhen ranks first among cities in Guangdong, playing host to about 500 homegrown and foreign companies. Its Bao’an and Longgang districts occupy first and third places in China’s production of high-performance and high-density PCBs in 2024, according to CCID Consulting.

The top PCB suppliers based in Shenzhen, such as Kinwong, Avary Holding, Shennan Circuits, Sunshine, Suntak and Fastprint, are global industry leaders as well. Electronics industry consulting firm Prismark ranked Avary Holding as the world’s top PCB manufacturer based on revenue from 2017 to 2023.

Expansion underway

Makers of PCBs in Shenzhen continue to boost their production to meet rising demand domestically and overseas. In recent years, there have been significant new investments toward this end.

Kinwong built a factory scheduled to start mass production in 2025. The facility is in Yanluo and has a total area of 180,000sqm. In addition to IC substrates, it will turn out advanced high-density PCBs for use in 5G communications and new energy vehicles. The company targets to rack up an annual production value of $970 million from this venture.

The industry buildup extends beyond Shenzhen and China, as in the case of Avary Holding’s factory construction in Thailand. Slated to begin manufacturing on a mass scale in the second half of 2025, this new facility will specialize in PCBs for vehicles and servers. In 2023, these applications yielded $74.86 million in revenue, a 71.45 percent increase from the previous year. The company expects to sustain this level of growth in 2025 and 2026.

Product initiatives

Shenzhen-based companies have been funding R&D efforts to broaden their product catalogs. For instance, Avary Holding spent $270 million on developing superthin PCBs with mini blind vias in 2023. This is to snare a share of the market for such boards used in 5G terminals, high-range millimeter-wave radars and other applications driven by AI, cloud computing, IoT and autonomous driving trends.

Jove Circuit, meanwhile, is pursuing the HDI PCB category, having already set up a dedicated factory and business department for it. Its objective is to produce such boards in up to 32 layers widely used in the communications, data processing, automotive and industrial control fields.

Manufacturers are looking to build capability for substrate-like PCBs or SLPs, in addition to HDI types, to capitalize on the expanding market for these next-generation boards. Many others are working on further tightening line width and spacing and realizing higher layer counts.

Based on Prismark’s projections, PCBs with a layer count of 18 and above and HDI kinds will post respective growth rates of 7.8 and 6.2 percent, the first and second highest in the entire category, from 2023 to 2028.

Mainstream PCBs

Suppliers in Shenzhen offer a range of PCBs, including rigid, flexible and rigid-flex, and IC substrates, with rigid units leading shipments for the majority.

They use domestically available materials such as copper-clad laminates, PP, copper foils and ink, leveraging abundant supply.

The cost of CCLs and PP accounts for nearly 40 percent of outlay. Although CCL quotes have been fluctuating since 2023, most manufacturers have kept their PCB prices steady. In 2025, costs are anticipated to stabilize as CCL production ramps up.

China is the world’s largest production base for CCLs, with Kingboard, Shengyi, GDM and Nouya the key sources. In 2023, the country turned out 1.02 billion square meters, a 12 percent increase year on year, according to AskCI. This two-digit growth is expected to be repeated in 2025.

China’s PCB market

Globally, the PCB industry is expected to have realized a 5 percent year-on-year increase in 2024, with $72.971 billion in production value reached if Prismark’s projection approximates actual figures.

China’s market is supposed to have reached $48.18 billion in 2024, according to Zhiyan Consulting. This will have accounted for more than half of the worldwide total, showing the country’s hub status in this category.

Rigid PCBs account for 81 percent of China’s shipments, with flexible variants, IC substrates and rigid-flex units having respective shares of 14, 4 and 1 percent, according to the same source.

SUPPLIER PROFILES

Golden Circuits Technology Co. Ltd

Year established: 1985

Head office location: Shenzhen, Guangdong

Key export products: PCBs

Export ratio: 70%

Main export markets: Europe, North America, Asia

Model: 6 Layer HDI

MOQ: Negotiable

Lead time: 15 days

Description: PCB; six layers; Tg170 FR-4 base; 3mil minimum line width and spacing; 3µin immersion gold surface finish; 0.1mm blind and buries vias, laser-drilled holes; 1oz inner, 2oz outer copper; ±10 percent impedance control tolerance

Shenzhen Benqiang Circuit Co. Ltd

Year established: 2010

Head office location: Shenzhen, Guangdong

Key export products: PCBs

Export ratio: 45%

Main export markets: Europe, North America, Asia

Model: A565240E14

MOQ: Negotiable

Lead time: 30 days

Description: HDI PCB; 14 layers; Shengyi-branded S1000-2M base; 2.95276mil minimum line width and spacing; 8:1 aspect ratio; OSP surface finish; 0.1mm minimum laser-drilled, 0.2mm mechanical hole sizes; 1.6±0.16mm board thickness; for automotive, communications applications

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