Thailand PCB industry outlook 2026: demand at home, orders abroad

Thailand's PCB industry spent 2023 to 2025 building. The trade figures for 2026 show it starting to ship. This outlook uses three independent records: Thailand's customs returns to the UN Comtrade database, up to May 2026; the import records of the United States, the largest single market for electronics; and the MPBxChange register of PCB plants in Thailand. Reported figures carry their source. Passages marked Analysis are our own reading, and every calculation shows its inputs.

Key points

• Thailand's bare-board exports rose 39.4% in January to May 2026 compared with the same months of 2025, from US$597.8 million to US$833.2 million.^[2] In July 2026 they reached US$232 million in a single month, 78.8% more than a year earlier.^[6]
• In 2025 Thailand became the third-largest supplier of bare boards to the United States, behind Taiwan and China, up from sixth in 2019. US imports from Thailand tripled over those six years, from US$69.3 million to US$210.7 million.^[3]
• Thailand's assembly industry is a large home market. Its exports of computers (HS 8471) rose from US$11.9 billion in 2019 to US$22.8 billion in 2025, and of telecom equipment (HS 8517) from US$4.1 billion to US$17.3 billion.^[4] Bare-board imports rose to US$3.54 billion in 2025 to supply them.^[1]
• The capacity pipeline is large: 222 BOI applications for PCB and PCB materials projects from 2023 to 2025, worth THB 320,078 million.^[8] The MPBxChange register lists 39 PCB plants, 33 of them operating or ramping.

2026: the shipping phase

Monthly customs data show exports and imports of bare boards (HS 8534) both climbing through the first half of 2026.^[2]

Source: UN Comtrade, monthly, as reported by Thailand.^[2] Changes are our arithmetic: 2026 divided by 2025, minus one.

The Office of Industrial Economics (OIE), which tracks the sector for the Ministry of Industry, reported July 2026 exports of printed circuits at US$232 million, up 78.8% on a year earlier, with growth in ASEAN, the United States and Japan.^[6] Its December 2025 report showed board assembly (PCBA) output 16.2% higher than a year earlier.^[7]

Analysis. For three years the new plants were visible in investment approvals and construction, but hardly in trade. Annual exports stayed between US$1.2 billion and US$1.7 billion from 2015 to 2025.^[1] The 2026 monthly figures are the first sustained rise above that range: exports from January to May 2026 already total US$833.2 million, half of the 2021 record of US$1.65 billion in five months (our arithmetic from the monthly returns).^[2][1] The annual total for 2026 will show how far the rise goes.

The market at home

Thailand imports more bare boards than it exports, and the gap has grown: US$3.54 billion of imports against US$1.58 billion of exports in 2025.^[1] The reason is on the other side of the ledger. Thailand's assembly industry has grown fast.

Source: UN Comtrade, as reported by Thailand.^[4][1] Changes are our arithmetic.

Analysis. Every one of those computers, servers and network products carries printed boards, and today most of the bare boards they use arrive from abroad: China supplied 64.5% of Thailand's 2025 bare-board imports.^[1] That is the largest near-term opportunity for Thai board makers. A plant that can qualify with an assembler in the same country saves the customer freight, duty paperwork and lead time. For buyers and assemblers, the new plants offer a second source inside Thailand. Substitution will not be one for one, but the scale of the import bill shows the size of the home market.

The US channel

The United States records its own imports, which gives an independent view of Thai boards abroad.^[3]

Source: UN Comtrade, as reported by the United States.^[3] Comtrade lists Taiwan as "Other Asia, not elsewhere specified". Changes are our arithmetic.

Counted across all 76 partner economies that shipped bare boards to the United States in 2025, Thailand ranked third, with 6.9% of US imports of US$3,046.0 million. In 2019 it ranked sixth, with 3.6% of US$1,929.5 million.^[3] US imports from Thailand rose 90% in 2025 alone, from US$110.9 million in 2024.

Analysis. Direct shipments to the United States are still a small share of Thai board exports, 15.5% in 2025, and most boards reach American customers inside products assembled elsewhere.^[1] The US record matters because it shows American buyers adding Thailand to their supplier lists at a time when they are diversifying. Since 24 July 2026, Thai goods entering the US carry a 12.5% Section 301 tariff, the rate the same notice sets for China and Vietnam.^[11] Between those three sources, tariffs no longer decide; qualification, lead time and service do.

Where Thailand stands in the region

Southeast Asia's three largest bare-board exporters all grew between 2019 and 2025.^[5]

Source: UN Comtrade, exports to the world as reported by each country.^[5] Changes are our arithmetic. Vietnam's 2024 and 2025 figures were not in the database when we read it.

By output rather than exports, the Taiwan Printed Circuit Association (TPCA) puts Thailand first in Southeast Asia, with US$5.06 billion in 2025, 5.4% of world output.^[10] In our reading, output exceeds exports because many Thai-made boards go to assembly lines in Thailand and leave the country inside finished products.

The capacity pipeline

The BOI received 222 applications for PCB and PCB raw-material projects from 2023 to 2025, worth THB 320,078 million.^[8] Materials makers are following: in 2026 the BOI approved a USD 189.2 million plant in Chon Buri for laminate and prepreg designed for AI servers.^[9]

The MPBxChange register lists 39 PCB plants in Thailand. 33 are reported operating or ramping, and 6 are under construction or announced. Of the 39 that publish a founding year, 28 were registered in 2022 or later.

Where the openings are

Analysis. Five openings follow from the records above.

1. Replace imports for Thai assemblers. Bare-board imports of US$3.54 billion in 2025 are orders that Thai plants can compete for at home.^[1]
2. Serve US-bound programmes. US imports from Thailand tripled from 2019 to 2025.^[3] Plants with qualified lines for server, networking and automotive boards are best placed.
3. Supply the materials. Laminate and prepreg projects are arriving.^[9] Copper foil and plating chemicals made in Thailand remain the clearest gap in the chain, and so the next opening for investment.
4. Build the skills base. Peng Shen alone expects to need more than 1,000 highly skilled staff by 2027 and has signed agreements with five Thai educational institutions.^[12] Colleges and training providers that teach PCB processes have employers ready to hire.
5. Buy with data. With 39 plants to choose from, buyers can shortlist by capability, certification and location from public records before they ask for a quote.

What to watch

• The annual 2026 trade totals, due in early 2027, to confirm the export rise.
• The OIE's monthly production index for printed wiring boards (PWB), which reports the direction of output.^[7]
• BOI promotion certificates and money actually invested, which the BOI has begun to track alongside applications.^[13]

How this was researched

We read the UN Comtrade public database on 24 and 25 September 2026: Thailand's annual and monthly returns for HS 8534, Thailand's returns for HS 8471, 8473, 8517 and 8542, the United States' import returns for HS 8534, and the export returns of eleven other economies. Each API query can be opened from the source list; the database allows one period per query, so the link shows one year or month. We also read the monthly reports of Thailand's Office of Industrial Economics, BOI releases, a TPCA release and trade press. Percentages and totals marked as our arithmetic are calculated from the published figures. Plant counts and the plant chart come from the MPBxChange register of PCB plants in Thailand.