CCL Market UPDATE October 2025: 2024 Market Rebound Driven by High-Speed and AI Demand

Prismark finds that the overall PCB materials market rebounded significantly in 2024, including rigid laminates, marked by uneven growth across different segments. The market reversed the downward trends seen in 2023, largely due to surging demand for AI servers and advanced networking applications, particularly those requiring high-speed low-loss laminates. In 2024, the rigid copper clad laminate (excluding flex) was valued at $15Bn (including prepreg but excluding mass laminate)—representing a strong 17.9% increase from 2023. In area terms, the market consumed 747.7M m² of rigid laminate (including paper, composite, FR-4, and specialty laminates/other), an increase of 13.8% from 2023.

Market Dynamics and ASP Recovery 

RIGID PCB LAMINATES BY MATERIAL TYPE

The defining feature of the 2024 rigid CCL market was the recovery of the Average Selling Price (ASP) after it had bottomed out in 2023.

• The conventional rigid CCL segment saw some ASP increase due to rising raw material costs, coupled with the recovery of PC and smartphone demand.

  
  

• The strong growth momentum was concentrated among suppliers involved in the AI-related and advanced networking applications supply chain.

  
  

• High-speed materials, especially halogen-free products, outperformed the market, achieving significantly strong growth of 51.8% in value, primarily driven by AI server and high-performance computing applications.

Segment Performance and Growth Leaders

While standard FR-4 and paper/composite laminates experienced moderate growth, it was the specialty and high-speed materials that served as the primary growth drivers of value for the year. 

SPECIALTY LAMINATE MARKEY BY APPLICATION

Total sales of high-speed CCL laminates (including mid-loss material) reached $4,180M in 2024, recording a massive 50.4% increase from $2,783M in 2023. This growth was fueled by applications like AI server-related devices and advanced networking devices, which demand ultra low-loss and extreme low-loss laminates for complex HDI structures and high layer-count high-speed switchboards.

The high-performance segment saw several companies experience exceptional growth: EMC, TUC, Resonac, and Doosan all achieved over 30% YoY growth in value terms in 2024, significantly outperforming the overall market due to their strong presence in the AI server and advanced network sector.

Rigid CCL Supplier Landscape

The overall market concentration remained high, with the top ten laminate suppliers representing 77% of market sales in 2024.

The ranking of the top four manufacturers remained unchanged: Kingboard, Shengyi Technology (SYTECH), EMC, and Nan Ya Plastics. These top four collectively accounted for about 49.7% of the overall market (excluding mass laminate).

PCB RIGID LAMINATE SUPPLIER REVENUE – 2024

EMC led the growth among major suppliers, achieving 53% YoY sales growth. EMC was the market leader in the specialty laminate market, accounting for 22.1% of revenue in that segment, and was the top supplier for both high-speed laminate (including mid-loss) and halogen-free high-speed laminate.

For the highly specialized package substrate market, Resonac (41.2%), Mitsubishi Gas Chemical (22.9%), and Doosan (18.8%) remained the top three suppliers, benefiting from tight capacity and strong pricing for advanced FCBGA substrates, along with a rebound in memory BT substrates.

Regional Trends

Asia (ex-Japan) maintained its dominance in 2024 in the CCL market, accounting for approximately 96% of global laminate area consumption.

• China remained the largest consumer in Asia, accounting for 74.8% of the global value and 80.2% of the global area consumption in 2024. China also dominated high-speed CCL laminate production, accounting for nearly 70% of total high-speed material production by value.

• Taiwan saw strong growth in high-performance computing and AI servers, triggering demand for halogen-free FR-4, high T_g FR-4, and specialty materials.

• Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand, attracted significant investment in response to the "N+1" shift away from China, with suppliers like EMC, ITEQ, TUC, Kingboard, Shengyi Technology, and Nanya New Material announcing or initiating new plant construction to expand CCL capacity.

In conclusion, after the difficulties of 2023, the 2024 CCL market demonstrated a robust recovery, driven largely by technological advancement and infrastructure investments centered on AI and high-speed digital applications.

If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to Prismark directly by email: partners@prismark.com or call us at +1-631-367-9187 | www.prismark.com