Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Punching Out: M&A Deals in North American PCB and EMS Sectors for the First Half of 2026

Mergers and acquisitions deals in the EMS and PCB sectors in North America in the first half of 2026 were pretty slow for a while, and then, boom, a bunch of deals were announced in May and June, and even more in July. In fact, I hadn’t heard of one deal in the PCB space until June.

It is not difficult to understand why deals were moving slowly so far in 2026. The conflict in Iran, higher oil prices, and economic uncertainty contributed to the lack of deal flow.

Despite this, all the positive factors were there to help deals happen: aging baby boomers looking to retire, mountains of private equity money seeking deals, hordes of individuals looking to leave their corporate jobs to buy their own company, and a stock market that has been doing great.

Also, many of the issues that plagued deal flow in 2025 seemed to have faded. We are getting used to the noise in Washington, D.C., interest rates have stayed steady, and inflation has been tame (except for PCB materials). The PCB and EMS sectors are doing very well. The Global Electronics Association announced the latest book-to-bill ratio for the PCB sector is 1.60.

Then, once we got into June, it seems like deals started to get closed. Here are some of the deals that have closed so far in 2026:

EMS Sector:

• P1 Technologies (VA) acquired Keltech, Inc (Va.) in January 2026
• Jabil (Public) acquired Hanley Energy Group (Va.) in January 2026
• Aimtron (IL) acquired ICS (Ill.) in January 2026
• Practical Technologies (MD) acquired by Patton LLC (Md.) in February 2026
• Chimney Rock Equity Partners acquired United Electronics Company (TN) (Albion River) in March 2026
• Flex (public) acquired Electrical Power Products (Relay Panels) (Iowa) in March 2026
• Tecnikabel (Italy) acquired EIS Wire and Cable (Mass., wire harnesses, bulk cable) in April 2026
• Plural (VC) invested $28 million into CircuitHub (Mass.) in May 2026
• Metatron Private Equity acquired Green Circuits in May 2026
• Green Circuits (Calif.) acquired OES Electronics (Canada) in June 2026
• Kimball Electronics (IN) acquired Helvoet Polymer Technologies (Belgium) in June 2026
• East West Manufacturing (GA, MDS) acquired Vexos (New York) in July 2026
• Cableteque (Calif.) raises $6M VC capital (July 2026), an AI-powered platform for wire harness industry
• Jabil (Public) acquired Rebound Electronics (UK-based electronics component distributor) in July 2026

That makes 11 deals that involved North American EMS companies in the January to June period. East West acquiring Vexos was announced in early July as was Cableteque’s capital raise. For comparison, EMS sector deals in all of 2025 were 14, with 24 in 2024 and 18 in 2023. It seems we are on track to have more deals than in 2025 by the end of this month, and perhaps to be on pace to beat 2024.

It is noteworthy that the two deals involving public EMS companies were acquisitions outside PCB assembly. Flex acquired Electrical Power Products, which makes engineered-to-order electrical power control and protection systems, and Kimball acquired a plastics company in Belgium (obviously before the FIFA World Cup). Then, in July, Jabil acquired Rebound Electronics, an electronics component distributor in the UK.

On the PCB side, here are some of the deals that occurred so far in 2026:

• Chase Corp (Mass.) acquired Sheldahl from Flex (pubco) June 2026
• TTM Technologies (pubco) acquired Swiss Technology Group (Switz.) and ILFA (Germany) in June 2026
• NCAB (Sweden) acquired Board Shark (Fla.) June 2026 (PCB distribution)
• Flex Interconnect Technologies (Calif.) acquired by Granite Equity (also owns All-Flex and Printed Circuit Inc.) in June 2026
• Price Circuits and Circuitronics (Illinois) acquired by Exeter Street Capital Partners (July 2026)

That makes five deals so far in 2026, compared to three deals in all of 2025, three in 2024, and 13 in 2023. It does not seem like we will easily challenge 2023’s level, but M&A activity so far in 2026 has certainly been strong.

Rising orders and shipments, strong demand for military and high-speed data, reshoring, and continued interest from both private equity and foreign buyers should keep this market going. Some of the factors that are keeping the number of deals down are the lack of shops (which numbers around 140 or so companies for the U.S. and Canada) and (sorry to say) the relatively low technology and facility level when compared to many Asian shops.

My firm, GP Ventures, is active in the PCB and EMS sectors. We are currently working with both sellers and buyers on a variety of projects. In the EMS sector, it feels like more owners are considering going to market, as order and quote activity has been strong.

The PCB market has been strong all year, which should lead to more owners coming to market. As long as the stock market and the economy remain robust, inflation remains tame, and we do not have some type of crazy shock hit the systems, it appears that M&A activity will continue to grow.

Tom Kastner is the president of GP Ventures, an investment banking firm focused on sell-side and buy-side transactions in the tech and electronics industries. GP Ventures has offices in Chicago and Tokyo, with five people in total. Tom Kastner is a registered representative of, and securities transactions are conducted through, StillPoint Capital, LLC—a Tampa, Florida, member of FINRA and SIPC. StillPoint Capital is not affiliated with GP Ventures.