The global landscape of PCB manufacturing is changing. With tariffs increasing the cost of doing business overseas (and in general with more expensive materials), now is a good time for designers to review their options for optimal budget expenditures. Let’s review the state of PCB manufacturers in the USA for 2024.
PCB Manufacturers in the USA 2025 vs. Global Counterparts
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A Look Back at PCB Manufacturers in the USA for 2025
Regarding industry health, 2024 was a banner year in many aspects, although some metrics offer less reason for optimism. Y2Y relative to December 2023, shipments are down marginally (0.3%). However, bookings were up 59.6% Y2Y for the same time frame, preaching healthy growth and business. The elephant in the room was the (at the time) looming tariffs providing significant cost uncertainty. In other words, manufacturing shouldn’t necessarily expect similarly robust business in December 2025. Furthermore, wintertime EoY/SoY ordering can show higher-than-average density than the rest of the year for budgetary reasons.
The evolving nature of the ongoing trade war can be difficult for designers to navigate. Design teams should bake a larger-than-average amount of price uncertainty into their purchases for the near future. There are a few approaches design teams can adopt to minimize manufacturing costs:
- Additional prototype investment – Reducing the number of prototype revisions means less budgetary impact from the tariffs (copper, general electronics purchases, etc.). It can also tamp down on last-second rush ordering when project deadlines are in the balance.
- Risk analysis – Similarly, designers can reduce costs by carefully weighing design riskiness. While performance and innovation are critical to device success, overly ambitious designs can become less manufacturable. A design review for manufacturability pre-production with the manufacturer can not only catch the readily apparent sources of defects but also highlight subtler areas that may prove challenging.
- Domestic partnership – Some cost advantages of overseas manufacturing evaporate with more punitive duties (potentially, more coming in the future). With domestic manufacturing, designers can benefit from better quality control at a more competitive per-unit price than in the past.
Working With A USA-based PCB Manufacturer
Outside of a few protected industries and productions, overseas PCB manufacturing has dominated domestic manufacturing for cost-competitiveness reasons. When dealing with high-volume production lots, per-unit pricing becomes insurmountable (especially for consumer products where prices can be highly cutthroat). However, domestic manufacturing has some inborn advantages: when production lots are small, per-unit pricing becomes less paramount – prototyping and NPIs can benefit instead from faster turnaround and shipping times. Additionally, quick-turn ordering is an option. This extra service streamlines the production and testing schedule to ship boards to customers within 72 hours of ordering for faster processing.
There are additional benefits designers can leverage working with a domestic manufacturing partner that may be harder to come by engaging international manufacturers:
- Collaboration – Establishing an in-person connection with the facility and its personnel gives designers greater confidence in the manufacturing outcomes. Regarding business correspondence, it’s easier for designers to converse during shared business hours for meetings, updates, engineering change orders (ECOs), and other pertinent information instead of exchanging emails.
- Greater manufacturing complexity – The ability to partner with a cutting-edge manufacturer and leverage a partner with additional equipment and expertise keeps product development on target.
- Customer service – Domestic manufacturers have a leg up on their international counterparts because they can call and visit a site, add additional engineering/manufacturing services, and respond faster to design fluidity.
Your Contract Manufacturer for 2025 and Beyond
With the changes experienced by PCB manufacturers in the USA in 2025 (and likely beyond), it’s more important than ever to work with an experienced manufacturer to navigate the emerging landscape. For PCBA contract manufacturing in San Jose and Reno, designers must look no further than VSE. At VSE, we’re committed to building electronics for our customers, including a complete design and manufacturing analysis for competitiveness, performance, and yield. We’ve been realizing life-changing and life-saving designs for over forty years with our manufacturing partners.
If you are looking for a CM that prides itself on its care and attention to detail to ensure that each PCB assembly is built to the highest standards, look no further than VSE. Contact us today to learn more about partnering with us for your next project.
