TPCA Show 2026 Preview: AI Boom Pulls PCB and Control Board Orders
TPCA Show 2026 opens October 20 in Taipei with a record 680+ brands and 1,840+ booths. This preview breaks down show highlights, Taiwan and global PCB output data, and AI-driven spec upgrades — and what they mean for PCB and control board sourcing.
Most AI hardware stories start with compute and models. The purchase orders, though, land on circuit boards. On October 20, the 27th Taiwan Printed Circuit Association Show (TPCA Show 2026) opens at TaiNEX 1 in Taipei — with a record footprint of more than 680 international brands, over 1,840 booths, and an expected 70,000 professional buyers (TPCA, 2026). When an industrial trade show keeps breaking its own records, that is the industry telling you where the money is going: AI is not just adding end demand; it is forcing a full-stack spec upgrade from chips and packaging down to substrates, PCBs, materials, and equipment.
What to watch at the show
The exhibition runs October 20–22, 2026 at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 1, under the theme "Energy-Efficient AI: From Computing to Systems and Applications." Eight exhibition zones cover substrates and high-end board manufacturing, advanced materials and chemicals, dry/wet process equipment, smart automation, test equipment, electronic assembly, SMT smart production, and green tech — plus a dedicated advanced packaging pavilion built around AI and high-performance computing demand.
Around 50 forums are organized around three themes: AI computing and system integration, next-generation packaging and substrate innovation, and thermal management, reliability, and smart manufacturing. The sessions on heterogeneous integration, panel-level packaging, glass substrates, chiplets, and 3D integration are the ones to mark. Exhibitor lineups already point the same way: inspection vendors are bringing X-ray solutions for back-drilling and through-glass vias, while drilling and laser equipment makers are pitching precision aimed at AI-server-grade boards. The co-located IMPACT-IAAC 2026 conference opens October 19 at the Grand Hilai Taipei and, for the first time, extends across both TaiNEX halls on October 20–21.
The opening keynote sets the tone. Unimicron's chairman and chief strategy officer will speak on "The Taiwan PCB Industry in the Heterogeneous Integration Era: From Supply Chain to Ecosystem." That title captures the real story of this year's show: Taiwan's PCB industry no longer wants to be just a contract manufacturer — it wants a seat at the table where AI hardware specifications are defined.
The numbers behind the orders
The buzz has receipts. TPCA data shows Taiwan's PCB output hit NT$423.6 billion in the first half of 2025, up 13.8% year on year — a record for the period — driven mainly by AI servers and satellite communications (Taiwan News, October 2025). For the full year, TPCA estimated around NT$907.2 billion, up 11.1% (CNA, December 2025).
Globally, TPCA and ITRI's ISTI put 2025 global PCB output at US$92.36 billion (+15.4%), rising to US$105.2 billion in 2026 (+13.9%), with AI as the key engine of the industry's upgrade and value restructuring (I-Connect007). Prismark's read is even stronger: the global bare-board market reached US$27.3 billion in Q2 2026 (+31.3% YoY), with the full year forecast to grow 32.1% to US$113.4 billion. Profitability is improving with it: among leading public PCB suppliers, aggregate gross margin rose from 20.1% to 23.8% in the first half of 2026, net margin from 7.7% to 11.8%, while capital expenditure jumped 86.5%.
The premium segments are running fastest. TPCA and ITRI forecast global substrate output of US$19.51 billion in 2026, up 32.3%, pulled by AI servers, high-speed switches, ASICs, GPUs, and high-end memory (UDN, September 2026). Prismark's segment forecast points the same way: 18+ layer multilayer boards up 86.7% in value in 2026, package substrates up 44.2%, HDI up 39.8%. As Chuck Xu, President of Interconnect Solutions at Qnity, put it: "AI is pushing the limits of printed circuit boards — more power, more heat and denser interconnects in more complex designs."
AI doesn't want more boards. It wants harder boards.
Order growth comes with a higher bar. AI chip packages keep getting bigger, pushing CoWoS toward larger interposers and larger package areas — and substrates now face much tougher demands on warpage, coplanarity, signal integrity, and power delivery. Glass core is seen as the next-generation direction for high-end substrates, though still in technology validation and supply-chain build-out, with early use concentrated on large-area, high-power AI GPUs and ASICs (CNA, October 2026).
Materials are already tight. TPCA reports that the supply-demand imbalance for low-CTE fiberglass cloth may persist until around 2027, while new-generation AI server specifications put HVLP4 copper foil at medium-term supply risk (I-Connect007). Two realities follow for buyers: longer lead times and price volatility for high-end materials are the new normal — rigid PCB and package-substrate prices are already rising on higher raw-material costs, tight supply, extended lead times, and more complex designs — and the industry's competitive edge is shifting from "capacity" to "control of key materials and supply-chain management."
Three notes for buyers
First, spec before price. AI server boards need far more layers, stricter materials, and higher per-unit value than conventional server boards — the industry's growth now comes from specification upgrades, not just shipment volume. When qualifying suppliers, check their high-speed material systems and high-layer-count production track record before comparing unit prices.
Second, write thermal and power integrity into the requirement. As power and package density climb, thermal management and power/signal integrity decide yield. Specifying them up front costs far less than fixing them later.
Third, vet supply-chain resilience. Ask where key materials come from, how suppliers buffer inventory, and how their overseas expansion is progressing. In a cycle of tight glass cloth and copper foil, suppliers with secured long-term material supply hold delivery dates.
For buyers comparing PCB and PCBA partners, the show itself is a useful filter: the vendors investing in advanced packaging, high-frequency materials, and smart inspection are the ones positioned for the next cycle.
Closing
Twenty-seven editions in, TPCA Show has for the first time bet its whole theme on AI — and backed it with a record booth count. The direction is clear: competition in AI hardware is moving from chip design into boards and substrates, and whoever keeps up with the spec upgrades gets a share of this order wave. For brands and solution providers, now is the time to re-map the PCB and control board supply chain. We have previously looked at how control boards became the core of the AI home appliance experience — from home appliances to AI hardware, the control board's share of the end-product experience will only keep growing.
If you are sourcing PCBs or PCBA for AI-related hardware, or looking for a custom control board manufacturer for your next product, contact us through the Jushi Electronics website — our engineers are happy to talk through your requirements.
Sources
Taiwan Printed Circuit Association (TPCA) via CNA, 2026-10-11, "AI掀PCB大升級 電路板展聚焦先進封裝與玻璃基板": https://www.cna.com.tw/news/afe/202610110030.aspx
stockfeel, "TPCA Show 2026 台灣電路板產業國際展覽會是什麼？PCB 展亮點與受惠概念股一次看！": https://www.stockfeel.com.tw/tpca-show-台灣電路板產業國際展覽會/
TPCA via Taiwan News, 2025-10-03, "Taiwan's printed circuit board output tops NT$423.6 billion in H1": https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/6213019
CNA, 2025-12-18, "TPCA：台灣PCB今年產值估達9072億 年增11%"
TPCA and ITRI ISTI via I-Connect007, "AI Reshapes the Industry Landscape: Global PCB Output to $105.2 Billion in 2026, Up 13.9% YoY": https://iconnect007.com/article/148548/ai-reshapes-the-industry-landscape-global-pcb-output-to-1052-billion-in-2026-up-139-yoy/148545/pcb
Prismark, "Second Quarter 2026" report: https://www.prismark.com/_files/ugd/950e51_f051e20bf9dc4317baa5019b5a5a4e0e.pdf
TPCA and ITRI via UDN, 2026-09-24 (2026 global substrate output forecast US$19.51B, +32.3%): https://udn.com/news/amp/story/123006/9775456
Qnity (Business Wire via Morningstar), 2026-10-05, Chuck Xu quote: https://www.morningstar.com/news/business-wire/20261002905006/qnity-showcases-materials-innovation-powering-the-next-leap-in-electronics-at-tpca-show-2026