Amphenol agrees to acquire AdvancedPCB, Unimicron plans to dissolve its German plant

Key points

• Between 27 and 29 October 2026, a US maker of printed circuit boards agreed to a change of owner, a Taiwanese group set out a plan to dissolve its German board plant, and two Asian makers approved new capacity: one for bare boards in China, one for IC package substrates in Japan.^[1][3][7][8]
• Amphenol Corporation has signed a definitive agreement to acquire AdvancedPCB, a maker of high-reliability boards headquartered in Aurora, Colorado, with six facilities in the United States. The transaction is subject to US regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026.^[1][2]
• Amphenol expects AdvancedPCB to have full-year 2026 sales of about US$270 million. The figure of about US$1.6 billion in Amphenol's release is the combined purchase price of four acquisitions, AdvancedPCB, Dexgreen, Empire Electronics and Humanetics Sensors, and is not given by company.^[2]
• Unimicron plans to dissolve Unimicron Germany GmbH, its board plant in Geldern. On 27 October 2026 its board approved up to EUR 35 million, paid in US dollars through the subsidiary UniRuwel Holding, to complete existing orders, pay employee severance, repay bank and group loans, and cover liquidation.^[3][4][5]
• The next dated steps are the AdvancedPCB closing, expected in the fourth quarter of 2026;^[2] the end of production at Geldern, reported for the first half of 2027;^[5] and the phased start of Ibiden's new substrate capacity from fiscal 2029.^[8] Edadoc's Zhuhai plant, with a design capacity of 80,000 square metres a month, still needs its shareholders' meeting and a land auction, for which the filing gives no date.^[7]

Context

Four events in three days touched the supply of printed circuit boards and the substrates that sit inside chip packages. They are of three kinds. An agreement to acquire changes the owner of existing plants when it closes. A dissolution ends production at one site once its orders are completed. A capacity plan adds a plant that has still to be approved, built and brought into production. This article sets out each event from the companies' own filings and releases, with the amounts in each company's currency.

None of the four concerns a plant in Thailand. The board plants in Thailand, with their owners and stages, are listed in the MPBxChange plant register and followed in the tracker. The largest makers in the world and where they make boards are set out in the 2025 ranking, and the market as a whole in the world PCB market in 2026.

The week's events

Each event is dated by the board decision or the announcement. Three of the four concern bare boards. Ibiden's concerns IC package substrates, which carry the chip inside its package and are a separate product from the board the package is mounted on; the two layers are drawn in the material shortage article.

Amphenol's agreement to acquire AdvancedPCB

Industrial Growth Partners (IGP), a private equity firm, announced on 28 October 2026 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell AdvancedPCB Holdings, LLC to Amphenol Corporation. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals in the United States and customary closing conditions.^[1] Amphenol reported the agreement in its third-quarter results the same day and expects it to close in the fourth quarter of 2026.^[2]

AdvancedPCB is headquartered in Aurora, Colorado. It was founded in 1977 and offers board technologies to customers in the defence, aerospace and industrial markets from six facilities in the United States.^[1] Amphenol describes it as a US manufacturer of high-technology printed circuit boards for the defence and industrial markets. It expects full-year 2026 sales of about US$270 million and will place the company in its Harsh Environment Solutions segment after closing.^[2] IGP, with members of the management team and outside co-investors, acquired AdvancedPCB in October 2021.^[1]

AdvancedPCB is one of four acquisitions in Amphenol's release. Empire Electronics, a maker of interconnect assemblies for the automotive market, closed at the beginning of September. Agreements were signed for AdvancedPCB, for Dexgreen, a supplier of fibre optic connectivity products, and for Humanetics Sensors, a sensor business; Dexgreen is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. Amphenol puts the combined purchase price of the four at about US$1.6 billion, financed with cash on hand and debt, and gives no separate price for AdvancedPCB.^[2]

Until closing, AdvancedPCB is not part of Amphenol's guidance: Amphenol's outlook for the fourth quarter and the full year 2026 excludes acquisitions that have not closed, AdvancedPCB among them.^[2] Neither release describes a change to the six facilities, their capacity or their customers.^[1][2]

Unimicron's plan to dissolve Unimicron Germany

Unimicron Technology filed two notices of material information with the Taiwan Stock Exchange on 27 October 2026.^[3][4][5] In the first, Unimicron's board approved a cash capital increase in its subsidiary UniRuwel Holding Limited of up to the US dollar equivalent of EUR 35 million. At the rate the filing uses, 1.1358 US dollars to the euro, that is about US$39.75 million. The audit committee approved it on the same day.^[3] In the second, UniRuwel, which holds 100% of Unimicron Germany GmbH, passes EUR 35 million to the German company. The money is booked as capital reserve, so the number of shares held does not change.^[4]

Both filings state the same purpose. On the basis of overall group planning and operating considerations, and to save operating costs, Unimicron plans to dissolve Unimicron Germany GmbH. The capital is to let the German company complete its existing orders, handle employee severance, repay bank loans and group loans, and meet the costs of liquidation after the dissolution.^[3][4]

The filings do not say how many employees are affected or when production will stop.^[5] The Rheinische Post reported that all 240 employees in Geldern are affected,^[6] and Evertiq, citing the same newspaper, that production is set to end in the first half of 2027.^[5] In Data4PCB's ranking of Europe's 30 largest PCB manufacturers by 2024 revenue, Unimicron ranked 12th.^[5]

The filings provide for the plant's existing orders to be completed.^[3][4] They do not say where its customers will be supplied from afterwards, and none of the sources names another site.^[3][4][5]

Capacity plans in China and Japan

Two capacity plans were approved in Asia in the same days. They add no supply yet, and they concern different products.

Edadoc: a high-end PCB plant in Zhuhai

Shenzhen Edadoc Technology (一博科技) is listed on the ChiNext board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange under code 301366. On 28 October 2026 its board approved an investment agreement between its wholly owned subsidiary Zhuhai Edadoc Electronics and the administrative committee of the Zhuhai Economic and Technological Development Zone, for an AI-computing high-end PCB manufacturing project. The company announced it on 29 October.^[7]

The plant is to make high-end boards for automatic test equipment, AI computing, optical modules, servers, industrial control, communications, automotive and medical equipment. The filing gives a design capacity of 80,000 square metres a month and about 1 million square metres a year at full output.^[7]

The project still needs approval by the shareholders' meeting. The filing states that whether the land is won, its final price and the timing of its acquisition are uncertain, and that land, environmental and construction permits are still to be obtained. It describes the investment amounts and construction periods as planned or estimated figures.^[7]

Ibiden: IC package substrates in Japan and abroad

On 29 October 2026 Ibiden's board resolved to invest in more capacity for high-performance IC package substrates, mainly for AI servers. The planned investment is about ¥151 billion. It centres on the Cell6 factory building at the Kawama plant in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture, and includes other overseas plants. The new capacity is for high-performance package substrates for CPUs, and is planned to start operating in phases from fiscal 2029, with the start of mass production.^[8]

The investment is for package substrates, a separate product from the bare boards in the three other events, and is kept apart from their capacity here.^[8]

Ownership, exit and new capacity as separate events

The week's four events change supply in different ways, and each is complete on its own evidence.

An acquisition is complete at closing. For AdvancedPCB, closing is expected in the fourth quarter of 2026, after US regulatory approvals and customary conditions.^[1][2] The agreement concerns the same six facilities in the United States before and after closing.^[1]

A dissolution is complete when the plant's existing orders are fulfilled and the company is liquidated. Unimicron's board has approved the capital for both, and production in Geldern is reported to end in the first half of 2027.^[3][4][5]

A capacity plan becomes supply only when the plant is built and its products are in production. Edadoc's Zhuhai plant has its shareholders' meeting, land auction and permits ahead of construction.^[7] Ibiden's substrate capacity is planned to start in phases from fiscal 2029.^[8]

Each event is therefore followed by a different record: a closing announcement for AdvancedPCB; the completion of existing orders and the liquidation for Unimicron Germany; and shareholder approval, land, permits and a production start for Edadoc, with a phased start for Ibiden. Events at plants in Thailand, from announcement and approval to opening, expansion or closure, are logged with their sources in the tracker, and the plants themselves are listed in the plant register.

Data and method

This article draws on the release of Industrial Growth Partners on PR Newswire and Amphenol's third-quarter results release filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, both of 28 October 2026; Unimicron's two notices of material information to the Taiwan Stock Exchange of 27 October 2026, as reproduced by nStock; Edadoc's announcement 2026-048 to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange of 29 October 2026; Ibiden's timely disclosure of 29 October 2026; and reports by Evertiq (29 October 2026) and the Rheinische Post (October 2026). Each quotation was read on the publisher's page or in the filing on 31 October 2026.

Events are dated by the board decision or the announcement. An agreement to acquire is recorded as signed until it closes, a board decision as board-approved, and a project that still needs a shareholders' vote as pending shareholders. Amounts are given in each company's own currency and are not converted, except where a filing gives its own rate. Expected sales, investment amounts, design capacities and start dates are the companies' plans and expectations and are not counted as output. IC package substrates are reported apart from bare boards. No company was contacted. Interpretation is MPBxChange analysis.