Zhongyuan Securities·2026-01-28 08:29Investment Rating - The report maintains an "Outperform" investment rating for the communication industry [2][9]. Core Insights - The communication industry index outperformed the Shanghai Composite Index in December 2025, rising by 12.82% compared to +2.06% for the Shanghai Composite Index and +2.28% for the CSI 300 Index [8][14]. - Key material supply for optical modules remains tight, with major players like Longfei and Hengtong winning bids for China Unicom's hollow-core fiber cable procurement [8][9]. - The retail sales of communication equipment in China increased by 20.9% year-on-year in December 2025, driven by the demand for smartphones [8][41]. - The global smartphone shipment is projected to grow by 2% year-on-year in 2025, reaching 1.25 billion units, with AI smartphones expected to penetrate 34% of the market [8][29]. - The export value of optical modules from China decreased by 15.6% year-on-year in 2025, while Thailand's communication equipment exports surged by 152.1% [8][9]. Summary by Sections Market Review - The communication industry index rose by 12.82% in December 2025, outperforming major indices [14]. - Sub-sectors such as cables and network equipment saw significant gains, with increases of 22.05% and 19.44% respectively [15][19]. Industry Tracking - The capital expenditure of major cloud providers in North America reached $112.43 billion in Q3 2025, a 76.9% increase year-on-year [25][28]. - AI applications are driving cloud business growth, with major companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta significantly increasing their capital expenditures [25][29]. - The Chinese ICT market is expected to grow to approximately $889.43 billion by 2029, with a CAGR of 7.0% [39][40]. Domestic Telecom Industry - Telecom business revenue in China reached 1.6096 trillion yuan from January to November 2025, a year-on-year increase of 0.9% [48]. - The number of 5G mobile phone users reached 1.193 billion by November 2025, accounting for 65.3% of total mobile phone users [49]. - The number of fixed broadband users with gigabit access reached 239 million, representing 34.3% of total users [52].