NCAB vs Eurocircuits vs ICAPE — which one is right for you?
The three names come up in every EU PCB sourcing conversation, but they are three completely different businesses. NCAB is a Swedish-headquartered broker that does not own factories. Eurocircuits owns its own EU production but caps single orders at 50 pieces or 5000 placements. ICAPE is a French-listed broker with 70+ qualified factories, mostly in Asia. None of them is a direct competitor to the other two — and none of them is a production EMS in the 50-50,000 unit envelope.
This article walks through what each one actually is, where they fit, and where mid-EU EMS like Energetika-VDS, Cicor, or Würth Elektronik CBT play. We are not pretending neutrality — we are one of the EMS options in that gap — but the facts below are straight.
Quick comparison table
| Dimension | NCAB | Eurocircuits | ICAPE | Energetika-VDS (us) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business model | Broker (bare board) | Own production + assembly | Broker (bare board + some assembly) | Own EMS production |
| HQ | Stockholm, SE | Mechelen, BE / Eger, HU | Paris, FR | Strumica, MK |
| Production location | Audited China + EU partners | Hungary + Germany | 70+ factories, mostly Asia | Own line, Strumica |
| Assembly capable? | Limited, via partners | Yes, but capped | Yes, brokered | Yes, end-to-end |
| MOQ (assembly) | n/a (broker) | 1-50 pcs / 5000 placements | Varies by partner | 50 pcs typical floor |
| Volume ceiling | unlimited (brokered) | 50 pcs / 5000 placements per order | unlimited (brokered) | 14.4M placements/yr (3-shift) |
| Lead time (bare board) | 5-15 working days | 1-12 working days | 5-20 working days | n/a (we use partners) |
| Lead time (assembly) | via partner | 7-12 working days | via partner | 5-15 working days |
| IPC class | depends on partner | Class 2 default | depends on partner | Class 2 default, Class 3 capable |
| Best for | Global OEMs, audited supply | EU prototypes, low-volume | Cost-driven mid-volume bare boards | 50-50,000 unit EU production |
NCAB Group in detail
NCAB is publicly listed (NCAB on Nasdaq Stockholm) and operates a "factory management" model. They do not own factories. Instead they:
- Audit and qualify a small set of partner factories (mostly in China, with some EU)
- Manage the customer relationship, engineering, and quality
- Place the order with the audited factory under NCAB quality terms
- Take quality risk and warranty
NCAB's pitch is: you get China-tier pricing with EU-tier accountability and audited supply. It works well for large OEMs that need consistent quality across high volumes and cannot afford to manage factory relationships themselves.
NCAB does not really do assembly — they are a bare-board specialist. If you need PCBA you either go elsewhere or NCAB connects you to an EMS partner.
Sweet spot: 5000-500,000 unit bare board annual volume for OEMs that want a single accountable supplier.
Eurocircuits in detail
Eurocircuits is the European prototype standard. Based in Mechelen (Belgium) with production in Eger (Hungary) and additional capacity in Germany. They publish full pricing online, support a deep DFM tool (PCB Visualizer), and have built a brand around "buy small EU PCBs without talking to anyone".
The critical thing to know about Eurocircuits is the cap. Their standard service caps at 50 pieces per order or 5000 placements per order for assembly. Above that you need a quote and effectively a different service tier. They are deliberately positioned as a prototype-to-pilot shop, not a production EMS.
If you are at 10 boards with 200 placements each, Eurocircuits is excellent. If you are at 800 boards or you have 8000 placements per board, you have outgrown them and need a different EU partner. Many customers come to us at exactly that transition point — see our low-volume PCB assembly guide for Europe for the math on when the crossover usually hits.
Sweet spot: 1-50 unit prototypes, ≤5000 placements per order, EU engineering teams.
ICAPE Group in detail
ICAPE is the largest of the three by revenue (publicly listed in Paris, on Euronext Growth). Their model is broker-at-scale: 70+ qualified factories worldwide, mostly in Asia, with EU and US sales offices. They handle bare board, flex, semi-flex, aluminium MCPCB, and increasingly assembly through partnerships.
ICAPE wins on:
- Cost (Asian factory base passes through)
- Substrate variety (aluminium, ceramic, exotic flex)
- Scale (they can handle million-unit programs)
ICAPE loses on:
- Single-source EU production guarantees (most board comes from Asia)
- Lead time on revisions (broker model, 5-7 days added)
- IATF / MDR audit chain (depends entirely on which factory they route to)
Sweet spot: cost-driven OEMs at 1000-100,000 unit annual volume who want a broker layer between them and Asian fabs.
Where mid-EU EMS like us fit
None of NCAB, Eurocircuits, or ICAPE is really targeting the 50-50,000 unit per year EU production assembly market. NCAB is bare-board. Eurocircuits caps at the prototype-pilot transition. ICAPE is broker-routed to Asia.
The gap is filled by:
| Mid-EU EMS | Country | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Energetika-VDS | MK | DDM Novastar SPR-45/LS60/GF-120HT line, 4.8M-14.4M placements/yr |
| Cicor | CH / EU sites | Premium, MDR-strong |
| Würth Elektronik CBT | DE | Premium, sister to fab |
| Proto-Electronics | FR | Fast-turn prototype-to-pilot |
| AISLER | NL | Prototype-only, similar to early-Eurocircuits |
| Various national EMS | DE / IT / PL / CZ | Many regional options |
The mid-EU EMS slot is the right tool for: 200-50,000 units per year, EU-resident production paper trail, IPC Class 2 or Class 3, 1-2 week reorder cycle, full BOM management.
What changes the decision
Three questions push the answer:
- Do you need just bare boards or full PCBA? Bare only: NCAB or ICAPE. Full PCBA: Eurocircuits (small) or a mid-EU EMS (production).
- What is your annual volume? Below 50 pcs/order: Eurocircuits. 50-50,000 pcs: mid-EU EMS. 50,000+: NCAB or ICAPE or large-tier EMS.
- Do you need EU-resident production paperwork? Yes: Eurocircuits or mid-EU EMS. No: NCAB or ICAPE can route to Asia and save 15-25%.
For production transfer from any of these to a mid-EU EMS, the workflow is the same: Gerbers + BOM + CPL + reference build + first-article qualification. Timeline is typically 6-10 weeks.
How to decide in 5 minutes
| Your situation | Recommended path |
|---|---|
| "I need 25 prototypes by next week" | Eurocircuits or Proto-Electronics |
| "I need 5000 bare boards/yr, audited supply" | NCAB |
| "I need 20,000 bare boards/yr, cost-driven" | ICAPE |
| "I need 500-5000 PCBAs/yr, EU production" | Mid-EU EMS (us, Cicor, Würth) |
| "I need 50 PCBAs urgently, EU" | Proto-Electronics or AISLER |
| "I'm migrating from PCBWay to EU production" | Mid-EU EMS — see our production transfer workflow |
Energetika-VDS sits cleanly in the "500-5000 PCBAs/yr, EU production" row. We are not a broker. We are not capped at 50 pcs. We run the SMT line in Strumica with inspection and testing in-house (AOI yes, FCT sourced from EU partners).
Frequently asked questions
Does NCAB manufacture PCBs? No — NCAB is a factory management and brokerage business. They audit and qualify partner factories (mostly in China, with some EU) and manage the customer relationship under NCAB quality terms, but do not own production.
What is Eurocircuits MOQ? Eurocircuits accepts orders from 1 piece, but their standard service caps at 50 pieces per order or 5000 placements per order for assembly. Above that you need a quote and a different service tier.
Where does ICAPE produce PCBs? ICAPE is a broker with 70+ qualified partner factories worldwide, mostly in Asia (China, Vietnam, Taiwan). They have EU and US sales offices but no own production.
What is the best EU EMS for 1000 unit production runs? For 1000 units, mid-tier EU EMS like Energetika-VDS, Cicor, or Würth Elektronik CBT are the typical fit — Eurocircuits caps below this volume and NCAB/ICAPE are broker models routing to Asia.
Can NCAB or ICAPE do EU-only production? Both can, on request, route orders to their EU-qualified factory subset, but the pricing advantage largely disappears compared to going directly to an EU EMS. The broker layer makes sense mainly when you want Asian pricing with EU accountability.