PCB, CCL, and Substrate: Takeaways from Prismark expert call

J.P. Morgan hosted senior consultant Terry Wang from Prismark to discuss recent topics including the CPO impact on PCB/CCL and the potential outlook for PTFE adoption. Key takeaways: (1) CPO impact on high-speed CCL likely manageable, as CPO does not mechanically translate into a downgrade of PCB/CCL specs — the system still needs high-performance materials for power delivery and residual on-board data movement, so M7 or higher-grade CCL is still expected to be used; CPO adoption is expected to start on scale-out switches first in 2026, limiting near-term displacement of high-speed CCL demand, while board/substrate size and warpage/flatness constraints should give rise to demand for low-CTE, higher-end materials. (2) PTFE adoption is not yet finalized, with processability (lamination/process window and reliability issues) remaining a key gating factor, and a qualification outcome not necessarily leading to scalable manufacturing;