AI boom, West Asia crisis trigger printed circuit board shortage, price rise in electronics industry

The West Asia conflict and a surge in AI server demand have caused a shortage of printed circuit boards, a key hardware platform, which in turn has triggered a price rise in the electronics industry.

This crunch in printed circuit boards (PCB) — a hardware platform on which components are fixed in electronic products — stems from rising material costs, supply chain disruptions in key shipping routes, and component diversion toward high-end artificial intelligence hardware.