The quality of printed circuit board assembly manufacturing directly impacts the performance and reliability of everything from smartphones to autonomous vehicles and AI servers. As an electronics engineer, when selecting the right PCB supplier for your project, you often face a core dilemma: should you opt for the cost advantages and rapid response capabilities of Chinese manufacturers, or the technological leadership and mature quality systems of Western suppliers?
The global PCB manufacturing market exhibits distinct regional patterns, with companies from different backgrounds developing unique capability strengths and technical expertise.
In this article:
Part 1. Market Landscape Part 2. Top-tier Manufacturer Part 3. Leading ManufacturerMarket Landscape
The PCB manufacturing industry has long transcended geographical boundaries, forming a global supply chain network. This globalization represents not only market expansion but also the convergence and competition of technical standards and process specifications.
From a regional perspective, mainland China, Taiwan, and Japan dominate global PCB production. Mainland China, in particular, accounted for approximately 56% of the global PCB market share in 2023.
This industrial distribution has shaped a multi-tiered competitive landscape. Globally, companies like Zhen Ding Technology, Unimicron Technology, Qisun, and AT&S form the first tier.
By type, global PCB enterprises can be categorized into three tiers. The first tier includes companies like Peng Teng Holdings and Dongshan Precision, which primarily rely on deep collaborations with global consumer electronics giants and scale advantages to consistently rank among the top in global revenue.
The second tier comprises companies like Shenzhen South Circuit, Huatong Circuit, and Xingsen Technology, which have established significant barriers in high-end technology fields such as AI servers, high-speed networking, and IC packaging substrates. They serve as the core driving force behind technological innovation.
The third tier includes companies like Shenghong Technology and Jingwang Electronics. As the backbone of domestic substitution, they are steadily increasing their market share in rapidly growing sectors like automotive electronics and data centers. Meanwhile, numerous niche players have established irreplaceable competitive advantages in specialized segments.
Top-tier Manufacturer
In the high-tech PCB manufacturing sector, Chinese manufacturers have demonstrated diversified technical capabilities and clear market positioning.
Avaryholding, the world's top PCB company by revenue, holds a near-monopoly position in consumer electronics, with over 30% market share in high-end HDI and substrate-like boards. The company is actively expanding into automotive electronics and servers, achieving substantial progress in flexible circuit board technology for automotive radar.
Shennan Circuit Company Limited is regarded as China's PCB technology benchmark, excelling in high-end communication PCBs (40+ layer backplanes) and server PCBs (supporting PCIe 5.0). It stands as the sole domestic PCB manufacturer certified for Intel servers.
Shenzhen Fastprint Circuit Technology Co Ltd serves as a pioneer in domestic IC packaging substrate production, successfully breaking the monopoly held by Japanese and Korean firms. Its FC-BGA carrier boards have passed verification by domestic chip manufacturers, while BT carrier boards have entered mass production.
Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing Co., Ltd, a global leader in flexible circuit boards, achieved comprehensive coverage in both flexible and rigid boards after acquiring US-based Multek. The company is not only the world's largest LED PCB supplier but also possesses outstanding capabilities in mass-producing high-frequency boards for 5G base stations.
Wustec focuses on the high-end communication board and automotive board markets, with years of deep cultivation in enterprise networking and data center sectors. It leads in processing ultra-low-loss high-speed materials (such as M7/M8 grade).
These Chinese PCB manufacturers represent a complete industrial ecosystem spanning mass production to high-tech breakthroughs, playing a pivotal role in global competition and the drive toward semiconductor supply chain self-reliance.
PCBONLINE is a leading one-stop provider of high-reliability electronic manufacturing, highly regarded in industrial, medical, and automotive sectors. The company offers end-to-end services from design and PCB fabrication to component sourcing and professional PCBA assembly. Backed by a comprehensive verification system, its core strength is deep engineering analysis, which optimizes designs for manufacturability, prevents defects, improves yield, and reduces total cost. For high-quality, small-to-medium batch production, PCBONLINE is a valuable technical partner.
Leading Manufacturer
When we turn our attention to Western PCB manufacturers and service providers, we find they have developed unique strengths in specialized expertise and global footprints.
Flex Ltd, a leading global provider of smart manufacturing solutions, possesses deep technical expertise and extensive business operations in the PCBA sector. With production facilities worldwide, the company meets diverse customer demands across multiple fields, including automotive electronics, communication equipment, and medical devices.
Foxconn stands as one of the world's largest electronics manufacturing service providers, backed by a massive production workforce and advanced manufacturing facilities. Through innovations in automated production and precision manufacturing, the company has established rigorous quality control systems, delivering comprehensive manufacturing services to renowned brands like Apple and Huawei.
Jabil is a global provider of electronic product design, development, manufacturing, and after-sales services, renowned in the PCBA sector for its exceptional engineering expertise and innovation capabilities. With factories in multiple regions worldwide, the company achieves localized production and rapid response to customer demands.
AT&T, a major global player in the high-end PCB market, has accumulated extensive expertise in high-density interconnect technology and semiconductor packaging substrates. The company places particular emphasis on R&D investment, continuously introducing new production processes and technical solutions.
These Western PCB service providers typically establish their competitive advantages across multiple dimensions, including technological strength, production scale and capacity, quality control systems, as well as customer resources and market share.
Supplier Considerations
When faced with such a diverse array of PCB manufacturers, engineers must comprehensively evaluate multiple factors including technology, cost, responsiveness, and reliability.
Defining project requirements is the starting point for selection. PCB products can be categorized by structure into rigid PCBs, flexible PCBs, and rigid-flex PCBs, with each type requiring distinct manufacturing processes and equipment. Based on application domains, they are primarily divided into two major categories: electronics manufacturing and industrial machinery.
Technical compatibility is paramount. For instance, projects involving AI servers or high-performance computing should consider suppliers like Shenzhen Deep South Circuit Co., Ltd. or Shanghai Huatong Circuit Co., Ltd., which excel in high-layer count and high-speed PCB technologies. For IC carrier board designs, manufacturers specializing in this field, such as Xingsen Technology, may be more suitable.
For cost-sensitive projects requiring rapid turnaround, the “high-mix, low-volume, fast-turnaround” model adopted by Chongda Technology may offer distinct advantages. Comprehensive service platforms like JLC offer end-to-end solutions spanning EDA design to PCBA assembly, with PCB prototyping available in as little as 12 hours.
Regarding quality control, both Chinese and Western manufacturers should maintain robust systems encompassing rigorous oversight from raw material procurement through production processes to final product inspection.
Supplier flexibility also merits attention. For instance, PCBONLINE maintains a daily production capacity of 30,000 to 50,000 circuit boards under standard conditions, which can be scaled up to over 60,000 boards for urgent orders.
Another critical factor is technical support capability and communication efficiency. Domestic Chinese suppliers typically offer more accessible technical communication and faster response times, while Western suppliers excel in handling international projects and meeting specific industry standards.
One-Stop HDI PCB Manufacturer and Its PCB Via Filing Capabilities
If you're looking for turnkey HDI electronics manufacturing services (EMS) from hardware development to PCBA fabrication and box-build assembly, you can work with the one-stop HDI PCBA manufacturer PCBONLINE.
Founded in 1999, PCBONLINE has R&D capabilities for HDI projects and EMS manufacturing capabilities, including via filling for stacked vias. It provides 4-to-64-layer HDI PCB fabrication, assembly, and PCBA box-build assembly. You can order various HDI PCBs from PCBONLINE, such as FR4, polyimide (flexible PCB), polyimide + FR4 (rigid-flex PCB), and PTFE/Rogers (high-frequency PCB).
3000m² of production capacity per day for HDI PCBs with builds of 1+N+1, 2+N+2, 3+N+3,4+N+4, and arbitrary interconnection in any layers.
PCBONLINE has hardware and software R&D capabilities for IoT applications requiring HDI design, including PCBA and enclosures.
We can manufacture complex PCBs with stacker vias, via-in-pad, microvias, inlay boards, heavy copper designs, and hybrid and fine structure lay-ups.
Besides HDI PCB fabrication, we have powerful capabilities in fine-pitch assembly for HDI PCB assembly.
We have rich R&D and manufacturing experience for HDI applications such as FPGA boards.
High-quality HDI PCB and PCBA manufacturing certified with ISO 9001:2015, IATF 16949, RoHS, REACH, UL, and IPC-A-610 Class 2/3.
Here'e the PCB via filing capabilities at PCBONLINEL:
- Micriavia filling with copper: laser via size 0.1-0.125mm, priority 0.1mm
- Finished hole size for via-in-pad filling with resin: 0.1-0.9mm (drill size 0.15-1.0mm), 0.3-0.55mm normal (drill size 0.4-0.65mm)
- Max aspect ratio for via-in-pad filling with resin PCB - 12: 1
- Min resin plugged PCB thickness: 0.2mm
- Max via-filling ith resin PCB thickness: 3.2mm
- Making different hole sizes with via filling in one board: Yes
- Via filling with copper/silver: Yes
If you need HDI PCBAs or any other PCBAs requiring via filling, please send your email to PCBONLINE at info@pcbonline.com. We will provide one-on-one engineering support to you.
Conclusion
Via filling is used for creating stacked vias in HDI PCB fabrication, BGA/CSP/QFN IC packaging, and filling PCB via-in-pad with resin during multilayer PCB fabrication. If you need one-stop electronics manufacturing for your HDI PCBA project, contact the one-stop advanced PCB manufacturer PCBONLINE for high-quality PCBA and box-build solutions tailored to your project's needs.
PCB fabrication at PCBONLINE.pdf
