Lab Circuits starts its expansion in Barcelona

The expansion will consist of four phases, spread out over the course of three years. Once all four phases are completed, Lab Circuits' available surface area will have doubled and many of the older facilities will have been modernised.

The company states in a press release that the first phase alone will allow for a considerable expansion of the warehouse, as well as three production departments.

"This project, ambitious in size and scope, will allow us to lay a very solid foundation for the technological and capacity growth that will be demanded in the near future. At Lab Circuits we believe that the printed circuit board and high-tech electronic components sector can play an important role in Europe, and we do not want this capability to disappear completely and compromise our technological self-sufficiency," says Xavier and Albert Angel, managing directors, in the press release.

As previously reported by Evertiq, the European PCB industry has steadily migrated from Europe to Asia since the early 2000s.

Back in 2000, Europe's domestic PCB manufacturing accounted for 16% of the global total; by 2022, this figure had dropped to 2.3%. At the same time, the number of European PCB manufacturers fell from 555 to around 180, as pointed out by the EIPC, the European Institute for the PCB Community.

Given the current trajectory of the European PCB industry, Evertiq has invited Alun Morgan, President of EIPC, to participate as a keynote speaker at the Evertiq Expo in Berlin, Germany on June 20, 2024, to talk about the dire situation that the industry faces.

In his presentation, he will review macroeconomics highlighting current and upcoming global risk factors before focusing on the European PCB market and trends. European Purchasing Managers' Indices will be discussed along with technology and market trends before concluding with global and European business outlook.