PCB industry talent shortage ＂3,000 engineers needed＂ Investing in Thailand is full of opportunities and challenges

2025/03/12

Business Times
March 06, 2025
Author: Commercial Times Yang Luoxuan

Global geopolitical changes continue to drive the restructuring of the industry supply chain, and the PCB industry is also accelerating its pace into Southeast Asia. More than 40 PCB companies from Taiwan and mainland China have settled in Thailand.

To help the industry grasp market trends and overcome implementation challenges, the Taiwan Printed Circuit Association (TPCA) held a series of events in March, including a "Golf Friendship Tournament" in Ayutthaya, Thailand on March 2, and the "TPCA Thailand PCB Trend Forum" and "International PCB Talent Matchmaking Meeting" and "PCB Thailand Friendship Meeting and Dinner" in Bangkok on March 5, attracting more than 300 participants in total, injecting new momentum into the layout of the PCB industry in Thailand.

The "TPCA Thailand PCB Trend Forum" brought together more than 150 industry leaders to discuss the opportunities and challenges of the development of the PCB industry in Thailand. The forum invited many heavyweight lecturers from Xinxing Electronics, Shanghai Electric, KPMG Accountants, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Logana, etc., as well as representatives from the Thai Ministry of Commerce and IEAT, to conduct in-depth analysis on enterprise implementation challenges, supply chain integration and Thai investment regulations.

Discussions at the meeting pointed out that although Thailand's investment environment is full of opportunities, it is also accompanied by many challenges. Among them, the most pressing issues include cumbersome work permit applications, local talent shortages, and poor administrative efficiency. These factors not only affect the establishment of the supply chain, but also push up operating costs. In the medium and long term, the PCB industry has a high demand for hydropower. The industry hopes that the local government can accelerate the improvement of infrastructure, ensure a stable supply of hydropower, and provide a more secure investment environment for the PCB industry.

According to a TPCA survey, by the end of 2027, Thailand's PCB industry will need nearly 3,000 engineers and managers, and the manpower gap has become a major challenge for the industry. Therefore, TPCA actively carried out local talent training and enterprise matching, and held the "International PCB Talent Matching Conference" on the same day as the forum, successfully facilitating direct connection between enterprises and outstanding Thai students.

The event was lively and attracted many leading PCB industry companies, including Xinxing, Zhisheng, Lianmao, Yaohua, Jinxiang, Xinwu, Yuanyu, Taishan, etc., to actively participate and conduct one-on-one interviews and exchanges with students from top Thai universities such as KMUTT (King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi), KKU (Khon Kaen University), and SUT (Suranare University of Technology).

It not only enables companies to lock in outstanding talents in advance, but also provides students with a golden opportunity to enter the PCB industry. What’s even more special is that representatives from technical and vocational schools in Laos were also invited to participate, demonstrating TPCA’s efforts to assist companies in recruiting diverse talents in Thailand.

TPCA Vice Chairman Zhang Yuanming said that TPCA officially launched the "International PCB Talent Training Program" in early 2024. The content covers industry promotion, course training, employment matching, digital teaching materials construction, etc. It is hoped that through systematic promotion of talent training, it will accelerate the training of local PCB basic knowledge talents in Thailand.

TPCA invested a large amount of manpower and resources to hold a number of activities in Thailand, and obtained the participation and support of local PCB companies. Public activities such as ball games, forums, matchmaking meetings, social gatherings and dinners were successfully held. In addition, meetings were held with officials to reflect the current status of industry investment, actively visited local companies for factory visits, and discussed project cooperation with local organizations, which greatly strengthened the links with Thailand's industry, government, academia and research, creating a more mature and stable operating environment for the industry.

Image source: TPCA

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