Consolidated Statements of Income - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2018		Oct. 29, 2017		Oct. 30, 2016
Consolidated Statements of Income [Abstract]
Revenue	$ 535,276	[1]	$ 450,678	[1]	$ 483,456
Cost of goods sold	(403,773)		(359,363)		(364,750)
Gross profit	131,503	[1]	91,315	[1]	118,706
Operating expenses:
Selling, general and administrative	(51,395)		(43,585)		(44,577)
Research and development	(14,481)		(15,862)		(21,654)
Total operating expenses	(65,876)		(59,447)		(66,231)
Operating income	65,627		31,868		52,475
Other income (expense):
Interest income and other income (expense)	5,206		(3,068)		2,424
Interest expense	(2,262)		(2,235)		(3,365)
Gain on sale of investment	0		0		8,940
Income before income tax provision	68,571		26,565		60,474
Income tax provision	(7,335)		(5,276)		(4,798)
Net income	61,236	[1]	21,289	[1]	55,676
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	(19,181)		(8,159)		(9,476)
Net income attributable to Photronics, Inc. shareholders	$ 42,055	[1]	$ 13,130	[1]	$ 46,200
Earnings per share:
Basic (in dollars per share)	$ 0.61	[1]	$ 0.19	[1]	$ 0.68
Diluted (in dollars per share)	$ 0.59	[1]	$ 0.19	[1]	$ 0.64
Weighted-average number of common shares outstanding:
Basic (in shares)	68,829		68,436		67,539
Diluted (in shares)	74,821		69,288		76,354

[1] Includes $0.6 million gain on sale of assets.