Since this year, benefiting from the continuous strong downstream demand for AI servers, 5G, cloud computing, autos, and other products, the PCB industry has accelerated its recovery, showing characteristics of "not being weak during the off-season" and a good industry development trend. In terms of product structure, the operating income of products worth 10-30 billion yuan is 4.01/12.88/0.06 billion yuan, respectively.
"In the first half of 2024, the global macro economy will recover moderately, the market demand for electronic information products will improve, the company will seize the opportunity, further improve business expansion efficiency, achieve good overall business growth, continuously enhance the product share in different markets, and respond to intensive delivery of designated projects with strong customer demand. The overall production capacity utilization rate of the company has continued to increase and maintained a high level." said those related to the Secretary of the Board of Directors of Kinwong Electronic to reporters.
In addition, Shennan Circuits recently announced that the company's PCB factory utilization rate has increased compared to the first quarter of 2024.
Victory Giant Technology said that the global demand for PCBs related to AI is significantly increasing, mainly due to the continuous increase in computing power demand and the continuous expansion of application scenarios.
Huachuang Securities said that with the rapid implementation of AI, the demand for PCBs has increased substantially, and the product specifications have driven the uptick in value with AI and switch chip upgrades and iterations. The requirements for PCBs used in AI servers and high-speed switches, such as layers and special processes, are relatively complex, with high industry barriers, and only a few top-tier board manufacturers worldwide can undertake relevant orders, and these orders may spill over.
Industry insiders said that with the rapid development of AI, 5G communication, autos, and other fields, the demand for high-performance PCBs continues to grow, especially HDI PCBs. Its advantages in providing more complex circuit layouts and higher integration make it a key driving force for market growth.
PCB related companies:
Kingboard HLDG: Driven by the rise in copper prices and the recovery in demand, the company's copper-clad board leader's performance is restored. The company's direct customers are PCB manufacturers, and downstream end customers are mainly autos, home appliances, consumer electronics, servers, etc. Overall, home appliances and autos have a high prosperity, and their growth has certainty, while consumer electronics have entered the bottoming out phase. Due to the high degree of dispersion of the company's customer structure, the proportion of revenue from the top five customers is less than 30%, and the estimated maximum external customer revenue contribution is between 2% and 3%. The company has strong bargaining power with downstream PCB factories, making it able to respond to the increase in prices during the high prosperity period in the industry.
Kingboard HLDG: To meet the explosive development of AI, the company has increased investment and technical reserves in high aspect ratio electroplating technology, advanced back-drilling technology, thick-bottomed copper PCB process production technology, and the use of ultra-high-speed materials. At the same time, the company is also reserving new technologies in the future 6G wireless communication, high-speed servers, 4D imaging millimeter-wave automotive radar, and new energy vehicle high-voltage fast charging fields. Kingboard HLDG is an investment holding company mainly engaged in the manufacturing and sales of copper-clad boards. On May 20, Kingboard HLDG issued a price increase letter again: affected by the significant increase in copper prices and the large amount of customer inventory, the company increased the price of materials by 5-10 yuan per sheet, with a price increase range of 5%-10%. The last price increase of 10 yuan per sheet was implemented in March this year, which is the second price increase since this year.