The main logic of the surge in the PCB sector is that AI’s demand for computing power has increased, driving the continuous upgrade of switches; the switch field has higher requirements for PCBs. For example, 400G switches use 28-layer M7 material PCBs for PCBs, while 800G switches have higher requirements for PCBs.

The agency pointed out that with the upgrade of the PCIe protocol, PCB needs to continuously increase the number of layers and reduce transmission loss, provide design flexibility and better impedance functions, and bring about an increase in the value of PCB products. In 2022, the total output value of China's PCB industry will reach 44.2 billion US dollars, accounting for 54.1% of the world's total. In the future, under the background of the incremental market of AI servers, domestic PCBs can achieve both volume and price increases.

According to Prismark data, the current global PCB market is growing steadily. It is estimated that the global output value will reach 101.6 billion US dollars in 2026, and the compound annual growth rate from 2022 to 2026 will exceed 5%.

According to data from research institutions, the value of AI server PCB is 5-6 times that of ordinary servers.

In fact, the AI server business has become the focus of competition for PCB companies. The global PCB leader Pengding Holdings stated on the investor relations platform: "AI server is one of the key development areas of Pengding, and the company already has corresponding products. With the exponential growth of global data traffic and the acceleration of global information construction , as the most important computing power infrastructure, servers have seen significant growth in global shipments and market size. PCBs are key components for carrying servers. In order to seize market opportunities, the company plans to invest 1.12 billion yuan in annual production of 3.38 million The construction of the square foot automotive board and server board project. At the same time, the company will continue to improve its technical level and product development capabilities through continuous innovation, and maintain cooperation with world-class customers."

Victory Giant Technology has launched a variety of high-end HDI, high-end high-end high-frequency high-speed PCB, GPU graphics card PCB and other AI server related products. Talking about product shipments, a relevant person from the company said, "We have passed the certification before, and we now have this capability and are starting to ship gradually." A person from the Securities Department of Shennan Circuits said that some of the company's PCB products have been used in the field of AI servers , but the proportion is still low. Jingwang Electronics said in Interactive Easy that the company's AI server-related products are being verified and are participating in the development of customers' next-generation product solutions.

Aoshikang provides PCB support for related products to Nvidia and AMD. As of the first quarter of 2023, foreign revenue accounted for 64.15%. Xunjiexing's PCB boards can be applied to industrial robots, etc.

The relevant person in charge of Shiyun Circuit told the "Securities Daily" reporter: "The company already has ordinary server PCB products. In terms of AI server PCB, it is currently in the research and development and docking stage. The company will actively respond to customer needs and develop AI servers and other related businesses. .”

▌The market size of PCB core materials will exceed 70 billion yuan

As the demand for PCBs grows, copper-clad laminates, the core material of PCBs, are particularly important. As the leader of copper clad laminates, Jin'an Guoji quickly pulled the daily limit after the market opened yesterday. The company is a high-tech enterprise focusing on the R&D, production and sales of copper-clad laminates, the basic material of the electronics industry. Currently, it has an annual production capacity of 30.6 million copper-clad laminates, ranking second in the domestic industry in terms of scale.

Copper-clad laminate is a special laminate dedicated to PCB manufacturing. It is responsible for the three functions of PCB conduction, insulation and support. It is the core material for making PCB. After surface mounting with electronic components, it is widely used in computers, communications, Aerospace and many other fields.

According to the data from the China Business Industry Research Institute, the proportion of CCL output in mainland China to the global CCL output continues to increase, and mainland China has gradually become the global CCL manufacturing center. Since 2018, the scale of China's copper-clad laminate market has shown an overall upward trend year by year. In 2022, the market size will be 69.4 billion yuan. It is estimated that the scale of China's copper-clad laminate market will reach 71.2 billion yuan in 2023.