9.3.9.1Vertical

Contract Electronics Manufacturing

EMS companies assembling electronics to customer specifications.

Market snapshot

These figures describe Printed Circuit Boards & EMS (9.3.9), the segment that Contract Electronics Manufacturing sits within. They are not figures for Contract Electronics Manufacturing on its own.

Market size
~$29B
Growth
~5.5%CAGR (2017–22, nominal)
Companies
~1,130 firms
Firms by employee count

52.7% of firms have fewer than 20 employees: 595 micro-businesses, below most mandates.

The investable universe535 firms with 20+ employees
20–99
33362%
100–499
13325%
500+
6913%

Contract assembly is where supply-chain relocation shows up first, and it grew faster than the components it assembles. The economics are volume and qualification: once a board is approved into a regulated product, the assembler is very hard to displace.

NAICS 334412, 334418. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Business model & economics

Revenue model

PCB manufacturing and contract-assembly (EMS) fees

Key economics

Revenue per firm
$25,524,181
Revenue per employee
$381,709
Employees per firm
63.2
Recurring revenue
Moderate

recurring contract-manufacturing programs

EBITDA margin
Thin EMS; better for high-mix/specialty
Capex intensity
High

Characteristics

  • Scale-driven: payroll is only 16% of revenue, so the cost base is assets, not headcount
  • Moderate strategic-buyer pool: 69 firms exceed 500 employees, so a scaled asset has buyers, but not many
  • Bare PCBs and contract electronics assembly.
  • Reshoring and defense favoring domestic production.
  • High-mix/low-volume the U.S. growth niche.

NAICS 334412, 334418. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Geographic concentration

AlabamaAlaskaArizonaColoradoFloridaGeorgiaIndianaKansasMaineMassachusettsMinnesotaNew JerseyNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOklahomaSouth DakotaTexasWyomingConnecticutMissouriWest VirginiaNew MexicoArkansasDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaHawaiiIowaKentuckyMarylandMichiganMississippiMontanaNew HampshireNew YorkOhioOregonTennesseeUtahVirginiaWashingtonWisconsinNebraskaSouth CarolinaIdahoNevadaVermontLouisianaRhode IslandPennsylvaniaIllinoisCalifornia

California, Illinois and Pennsylvania. Contract assembly clusters near the design teams it prototypes for and the regulated manufacturers it qualifies into, rather than near cheap labor.

CaliforniaIllinoisPennsylvania

U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses (firms by state), NAICS 334412/334418. Concentration shown by location quotient.

M&A deal context

Deal activityModerate

Who’s acquiring

  • EMS majors (Jabil, Flex, Sanmina)
  • PE-backed PCB/EMS consolidators
  • Defense & specialty acquirers

What’s driving deals

  • Reshoring and supply-chain resilience.
  • Defense/aerospace and high-reliability demand.
  • EMS and PCB consolidation.

Find Contract Electronics Manufacturing acquisition targets

Search Acquisera’s index for companies classified under Contract Electronics Manufacturing (9.3.9.1) and build a targeted deal pipeline.

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