5G Base Station PCB Market Doubles | Value, Volume & Growth Opportunities for High-Frequency Multilayer Boards

5G Base Station PCB Market Doubles | Value, Volume & Growth Opportunities for High-Frequency Multilayer Boards

 

2019 marked the beginning of the 5G industry, and the explosive growth of 5G infrastructure has brought new momentum to the PCB (printed circuit board) sector. As 5G technology iterates, the product structure of PCBs has diverged significantly — with high-layer-count boards, high-frequency materials, HDI, and flexible boards gaining share while standard FR-4 multilayer boards continue to dominate overall volume.

In the current PCB market, multilayer boards still occupy the mainstream position. However, with the rapid development of electronic circuit technology and the increasingly extensive integrated functions of components, the high-density requirements of PCBs for electronic products have become more prominent. High-end PCB products — such as high-layer-count boards, high-frequency high-speed laminates, HDI boards, flexible boards, and IC packaging substrates — are gradually occupying a dominant position in the market.

From a demand perspective, both the price (value per station) and quantity of PCBs for 5G base stations are expected to double or more compared to 4G, strongly boosting overall PCB demand. Well-known listed PCB companies — including WUS Printed Circuit (Hudian Gufen), Shennan Circuits, and Shengyi Technology — are key beneficiaries of this trend.

This article analyzes the 5G-driven PCB market explosion, covering industry structure, base station PCB value drivers, market size forecasts, and the financial performance of leading PCB manufacturers.

1. 5G Substrate Market Explodes: PCB Enters New Growth Cycle

PCB — short for printed circuit board (also called printed wiring board) — is an essential electronic component that serves as the mechanical support for electronic components and the carrier for their electrical interconnections. Often called the "mother of electronic products," the PCB is fundamental to virtually all electronic equipment.

The downstream of the PCB industry covers almost all electrical and electronic products. The largest and most core application segments include communication equipment, computers, consumer electronics, and automotive electronics. As human society develops toward electrification and automation, the application scope of PCBs continues to widen, and there is currently no viable alternative technology.

1.1 Global PCB Industry Structure

According to NTI data, in 2016 the number of global PCB companies reached approximately 2,800, with mainland China accounting for roughly half. In addition, local raw material suppliers and specialized equipment manufacturers reached as many as 2,300. However, among the world's top ten PCB manufacturers by revenue, the majority are Taiwan-funded enterprises (such as Zhen Ding, Unimicron, Compeq, and Wus Printed Circuit). Although mainland China has a large number of PCB manufacturers, they are generally smaller in scale with lower industry concentration.

Previously, for the domestic PCB industry, the number of companies was large but revenue share was not the world's largest. Specific data shows that in 2016, mainland China had the most companies entering the global top 100 — 45 companies, accounting for 39.8% of the global total — but their combined revenue was only USD 10.362 billion, accounting for just 20.4% of global PCB revenue.

With the new wave of global electronics industry capacity transfer — represented by the industrial migration of PCB and integrated circuit manufacturing to mainland China — domestic manufacturers are ushering in significant growth opportunities. As of August 31, 2019, the publication of the electronics industry mid-year reports concluded: the first-half (19H1) industry revenue reached RMB 976.376 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13.73%, consistent with the growth rate of the same period in the previous year. The comprehensive deployment of 5G base materials — including flexible boards, high-end high-speed materials, and advanced PCBs — benefits from both the growth elasticity of 5G and the certainty of domestic substitution.

2. Why 5G Base Station PCB Value Doubles

In recent years, 5G has become the new main force driving PCB business growth. From a product structure perspective, multilayer boards continue to dominate the current PCB market. However, high-end PCB products — high-layer-count boards, flexible boards (FPC), HDI boards, and IC packaging substrates — are gradually gaining market share and becoming the mainstream of market development.

From a downstream application perspective, because PCB products have a wide range of applications, their cyclicality is less affected by any single industry. The overall PCB growth rate generally follows the macro economy and the overall development status of the electronic information industry. However, the 5G infrastructure cycle represents a structural upgrade that drives both volume and value growth beyond normal macro trends.

2.1 Quantity Growth: More Base Stations

According to Guosheng Securities estimates, based on a comparison of 4G and 5G deployment:

The number of 5G macro base stations will be 1.1 to 1.5 times the number of current 4G base stations, due to higher frequency bands (especially in the sub-6GHz and mmWave ranges) requiring denser coverage.

The construction of micro base stations (small cells) will exceed 9 million units — dramatically expanding the total addressable PCB market beyond macro stations alone.

2.2 Value Growth: Higher PCB Content per Station

At the same time, the PCB value of a single 5G base station is expected to be approximately RMB 12,500 (USD ~1,800), which is about 3 times that of a 4G base station. This value increase is driven by several architectural and technological changes:

AAU (Active Antenna Unit) integration: In 4G, the antenna and remote radio unit (RRU) were separate. In 5G, the antenna and radio are integrated into the AAU, and Massive MIMO (64T64R or higher) antenna arrays require significantly larger PCB areas with more layers, controlled impedance, and high-frequency materials.

Higher frequency bands: 5G operates at higher frequencies (3.5GHz mid-band, 26GHz+ mmWave) than 4G (typically below 2.7GHz), requiring low-Dk, low-Df high-frequency laminates (such as Rogers RO4000 series, hydrocarbon ceramics, and PTFE composites) for RF front-end and antenna PCBs — which are more expensive than standard FR-4.

Higher data rates: 5G baseband processing (BBU / DU) requires high-speed digital PCBs supporting 25G–100G+ SerDes interfaces, driving demand for low-loss, high-layer-count (16–32+ layer) backplanes and line cards with controlled impedance.

Increased layer count and board area: 5G AAU and BBU PCBs use more layers and larger board sizes than their 4G equivalents, increasing material consumption and manufacturing complexity per unit.

Small cell PCBs: While each small cell has lower PCB value than a macro station, the enormous volume (9M+ units) creates a substantial incremental market for mid-range multilayer and HDI PCBs.

Combining quantity growth (1.1–1.5× macro stations + 9M+ small cells) with value growth (~3× per macro station), the total 5G base station PCB market is expected to be 3–5 times the 4G base station PCB market at peak deployment.

2.3 Product Structure Outlook

Haitong Securities electronics industry research judges that:

Multilayer boards will remain the largest market segment by revenue, providing important support for the overall development of the PCB industry.

The proportion of high-technology PCBs — including flexible boards (FPC), HDI boards, and IC packaging substrates — will continue to increase and become the mainstream of market development, driven by 5G mobile devices, wearable electronics, and advanced semiconductor packaging.

3. Leading PCB Manufacturers: Strong Financial Performance

Many A-share PCB leaders have accelerated their performance growth in the 5G era. Below are key examples from the 2019 reporting period, illustrating the 5G revenue impact.

3.1 WUS Printed Circuit (Hudian Gufen / 沪电股份)

WUS Printed Circuit (Kunshan) Co., Ltd. — commonly known as Hudian Gufen (沪电股份) — primarily manufactures PCB boards for Huawei base stations and other communication products. Since 5G infrastructure construction had not yet fully commenced, 2018 was originally a year of reduced operator investment. In 2019 — the first year of 5G commercial deployment — WUS's performance began to materialize.

According to the 2019 first quarter report:

The company's communication market board business revenue in Q1 was approximately RMB 970 million, a year-on-year increase of approximately 25–30%.

Gross profit margin reached 27.50%, an increase of more than 5 percentage points year-on-year — reflecting the higher-margin mix of 5G high-layer-count and high-frequency boards.

In addition to Huawei, WUS has another major customer that cannot be ignored: Cisco, one of the world's largest suppliers of communications products and Huawei's primary competitor in the global communications equipment market. This dual-customer positioning reduces concentration risk and provides exposure to both Chinese and global 5G/network infrastructure spending.

3.2 Shennan Circuits (深南电路)

Shennan Circuits Co., Ltd. — a long-established PCB manufacturer listed in 2017 — is now one of China's leading PCB companies. According to Prismark's Q1 2018 report, Shennan Circuits ranked 21st among global PCB companies by revenue.

According to the 2018 annual report:

Optimization of the PCB product structure offset the negative impact of production capacity ramping at the Nantong factory, with gross profit margin increasing by 0.71 percentage points year-on-year.

Packaging substrate revenue increased by 25.52% year-on-year, with a gross profit margin of 29.69% — an increase of 3.5 percentage points year-on-year — mainly benefiting from the rapid growth and increased proportion of fingerprint recognition and RF module products.

Increased demand for communication sector products contributed to a 27.08% year-on-year increase in combined electronic equipment revenue.

Shennan Circuits' 2019 interim report (released in August) showed:

Operating income: RMB 4.79 billion, a year-on-year increase of 47.9%.

Net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies: RMB 471 million, a year-on-year increase of 68.02%.

Customer recognition further improved: the top five customers accounted for 40.77% of revenue, and the company was awarded Huawei's "Golden Core Supplier" (金牌核心供应商) for six consecutive years.

Shennan Circuits' strong growth reflects the dual drivers of 5G communication board demand and high-margin packaging substrate expansion.

3.3 Shengyi Technology (生益科技)

Shengyi Technology Co., Ltd. — China's largest manufacturer of copper clad laminates (CCL) and prepregs — is a key upstream material supplier to the PCB industry. In the first half of 2019:

Copper clad laminate sales volume increased by 4.02% year-on-year.

Prepreg sales volume increased by 2.13% year-on-year.

However, total sales revenue of these two products declined by 2.32% year-on-year — a phenomenon of rising volume but falling average selling price, reflecting industry-wide price pressure on standard FR-4 materials.

Notably, despite the decline in unit price, the gross profit margin of Shengyi's CCL and prepreg business increased by 4.4 percentage points year-on-year to 22.96%. The main reasons for the gross margin improvement were:

Reduction in raw material costs (copper, resin, glass fiber).

Proper control of unit manufacturing costs.

Shipment of some 5G high-frequency copper clad laminate products in the first half of the year — these specialty materials carry higher margins than standard FR-4 and represent a structural growth opportunity.

Shengyi's experience illustrates an important industry trend: while standard CCL faces price pressure, high-frequency, high-speed, and halogen-free specialty materials for 5G and automotive applications offer superior growth and margin profiles.

3.4 ONE Technology (Onesline / 万业科技)

ONE Technology Co., Ltd. — established in 2008 — focuses on high-precision multilayer circuit boards and HDI circuit boards, offering both rapid prototyping (express PCB prototype) and mass production services. Its products are widely used in high-tech fields including communications, medical, aerospace, industrial control, automotive electronics, computer peripherals, and educational institutions.

With strong manufacturing capability, stable quality, and fast delivery times, the company has gained wide recognition from customers and the industry. It successfully established the "ONE" brand and has become an excellent manufacturing enterprise for domestic and foreign PCB prototyping and multilayer board mass production. The company has been recognized as a "Shenzhen High-Tech Enterprise" and a "National High-Tech Enterprise."

4. Key Technology Trends in 5G-Era PCBs

The 5G cycle is not just about more PCB volume — it is driving a technology upgrade across the PCB industry:

High-frequency materials: 5G FR2 (mmWave) and FR1 (sub-6GHz) RF front-ends require low-Dk, low-Df materials such as PTFE composites (Rogers RO3000/RO4000 series, Arlon AD series), hydrocarbon ceramics, and LCP (liquid crystal polymer) for antenna modules.

High-speed digital materials: BBU, DU, and data center equipment require high-speed laminates with low Df (≤0.005 at 10GHz) to support 25G–112G SerDes channels — materials such as Panasonic Megtron 6/7, Shengyi S7439G, and ITEQ IT-180A.

High-layer-count boards: 5G base station backplanes and line cards routinely use 16–32+ layers, requiring advanced lamination, drilling, and registration capabilities.

HDI and any-layer interconnect: 5G smartphones and small cell modules require fine-line HDI technology with laser-drilled microvias for maximum routing density.

Flexible PCBs (FPC): 5G mobile devices use 10–20+ FPCs per device, including LCP-based FPCs for mmWave antenna modules.

Halogen-free and high-Tg materials: 5G infrastructure requires high reliability and environmental compliance, driving adoption of halogen-free, high-Tg (170°C+) laminates with good CAF resistance and thermal cycling performance.

5. Conclusion

The 5G era represents a structural growth inflection point for the PCB industry. Unlike the incremental growth driven by consumer electronics in previous cycles, 5G drives growth through both quantity (more base stations — 1.1–1.5× macro stations plus 9M+ small cells) and value (approximately 3× higher PCB content per macro station, driven by AAU integration, Massive MIMO, high-frequency materials, and high-layer-count high-speed digital boards). Combined, these factors make the 5G base station PCB market 3–5 times the size of the 4G market at peak deployment.

For PCB manufacturers, the 5G cycle rewards companies with advanced technology capabilities — particularly in high-frequency materials, high-layer-count boards, high-speed digital laminates, HDI, and packaging substrates. Leading manufacturers such as WUS Printed Circuit, Shennan Circuits, and Shengyi Technology have already demonstrated strong revenue and margin growth from 5G-related products. For material suppliers, the shift from standard FR-4 to high-frequency, high-speed, and halogen-free specialty materials offers both volume growth and margin expansion.

Looking ahead, the 5G PCB growth story extends beyond base stations to include 5G smartphones (FPC and HDI), 5G small cells (multilayer and HDI), automotive electronics (ADAS radar, EV power electronics), and cloud computing data centers (high-speed backplanes and server boards). Together, these interconnected 5G-driven markets create a multi-year growth runway for the global PCB industry — and particularly for Chinese PCB manufacturers that are well-positioned to capture both domestic 5G deployment and global supply chain opportunities.

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