Printed Electronics Firms Expect 7% Sales Growth
Manufacturers and suppliers in flexible electronics should weigh this rebound against peers holding investment and hiring flat.
Updated on Nov. 1, 2026 in Economic Indicators
The OE-A Business Climate Survey finds companies expect 7 percent sales growth for printed and flexible electronics in 2026. Order intake recovered to plus 2 percent after a minus 15 percent reading in January, a shift that matters for manufacturers and suppliers planning capacity.
Why it matters
The rebound follows a weak January reading, which means the outlook is still recovering rather than firmly expanding. Operators in the value chain, from material suppliers to device makers, are weighing whether a modest order recovery justifies holding investment and headcount steady.
The survey reports 7 percent expected sales growth for 2026, with order intake moving from minus 15 percent in January to plus 2 percent now. Among respondents, 54 percent expect industry growth in 2026 and 40 percent expect stable business, while 89 percent plan to hold production investment at current levels.
The players
OE-A
The international working group for flexible and printed electronics within VDMA, which conducts the biannual business climate survey and represents industry members across research, materials, manufacturing and end use.
VDMA
The German Engineering Federation, a large trade association that supports machinery and equipment makers and hosts the OE-A working group.
The details
The survey gathers views from OE-A members across the full value chain, including R&D institutes, material suppliers, manufacturers and end users. It captures qualitative assessments of sales, order intake, investment and employment rather than hard financial results. Most respondents are signaling caution: 92 percent plan to keep their current workforce and 89 percent plan to expand research and development activities, which points to firms investing in product development while holding staffing flat.
Timeline
January 2026: earlier survey showed minus 15 percent order intake and a plus 10 percent growth forecast for 2027.
2026: companies expect 7 percent sales growth for the industry.
Next six months: companies plan to keep production investment at current levels.
2027: companies expect average sales growth of 7 percent, and innovations will be shown at electronica and LOPEC.
Market Landscape
The survey follows a January reading that showed order intake falling 15 percent, so the current recovery is measured against a clear low point. Printed electronics makers are still working through a cycle in which expectations have swung sharply within a single year.
Operators in printed electronics should track whether order intake holds above zero in upcoming surveys, since that will indicate whether the 7 percent growth expectation is credible. Procurement and capacity planning teams may want to revisit supplier terms and production schedules against a backdrop where most peers are holding investment and headcount flat.
The takeaway
Treat the recovery to plus 2 percent order intake as an early signal rather than a firm trend, and compare it against the next OE-A survey before committing to new capacity. Operators should monitor order intake and workforce plans across peers as the most direct gauges of whether the expected growth materializes.
What happens next
The companies surveyed plan to exhibit innovations at electronica and LOPEC in 2027, which will show whether the expected growth is translating into new product launches.
Further reading
For context on how these signals fit into broader trends, see our coverage of Economic Indicators.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Electronic Products & Technology.
