IPC - Association Connecting Electronics Industries® announced today the January findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program.

PCB Industry Growth Rates and Book-to-Bill Ratios Announced

Rigid PCB shipments are down 2% while bookings increased 19.8% in January 2010 from January 2009. The book-to-bill ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry in January 2010 remained strong at 1.06.

Flexible circuit shipments in January 2010 were down 4.1%, but bookings were up 59.3% compared to January 2009. The North American flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio climbed above parity to 1.03.

For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in January 2010 decreased 2.1% from January 2009, as orders booked increased 22.2% from January 2009. The combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in January 2010 held steady at 1.05.

"The best news from our January PCB surveys is the huge growth in orders compared to January of last year," said IPC President Denny McGuirk. "Sales are still down slightly from last year but are increasing steadily," he added. "The book-to-bill ratio for all PCBs has stayed above 1.0 for nine months now, indicating continued sales growth in 2010," McGuirk concluded.