Zhi Tong Cai Jing·2025-12-26 02:49Core Viewpoint - The report from China Merchants Securities suggests that the PCB industry in 2026 will continue to present long-term investment opportunities in sectors such as computing power boards, CCL, upstream raw materials, equipment, AI edge applications, and domestic substitution. The current AI-driven technological innovation cycle is expected to last longer and generate broader market demand, with optimism from overseas CSP manufacturers regarding AI capital expenditure for 2026 [1] Group 1: Market Overview - The PCB sector experienced a steady upward trend driven by AI computing demand in early 2025, followed by fluctuations due to uncertainties in training-side computing power demand and geopolitical factors. The overall performance of the PCB sector showed significant growth, with a 149.9% increase year-to-date, outperforming the SW electronics sector by 101.2 percentage points and the CSI 300 index by 132.2 percentage points [1] - The PCB industry is currently in an expansion phase, with strong downstream AI computing demand. Despite expected weaknesses in mobile and automotive sectors in 2026, the demand for servers and switches remains robust due to AI infrastructure upgrades [2] Group 2: Supply and Demand Dynamics - The overall utilization rate of PCB manufacturers in the second half of 2025 was between 93-97%, with leading manufacturers maintaining optimistic order visibility for over three months. The industry is entering a new capacity expansion phase, focusing on high-end HDI, high multi-layer boards, and high-end substrates [2] - The demand for high-end HDI and high multi-layer boards is rapidly increasing, with a projected 25% year-on-year growth in AI capital expenditure, amounting to approximately $550 billion in 2026. The server PCB market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18.7% from 2024 to 2029, reaching $25.7 billion [3] Group 3: Product and Price Trends - The prices of copper and gold are expected to remain high, with upward trends in copper foil processing fees and fiberglass cloth. The overall price outlook for the PCB/CCL industry remains bullish for 2026 [2] - The AI-driven demand for CCL is leading to significant upgrades in specifications, with the high-speed CCL market projected to reach approximately $8 billion in 2026, driven by a CAGR of 40% from 2024 to 2027 [6] Group 4: Upstream Materials and Equipment - The demand for high-end products in upstream materials is accelerating, with significant upgrades in electronic copper foil, resin, and fiberglass cloth. The supply of high-end materials is becoming increasingly tight [7] - Domestic equipment manufacturers are expected to benefit from the PCB expansion cycle and the accelerated domestic substitution of high-end equipment, particularly in drilling and laser drilling sectors [8]