NetEase Finance: PCB emerges as key AI infrastructure component, driving new supply chain competition

Lead: After chips, the AI industry chain is searching for its next “shovel sellers.”

Over the past two years, the most prominent position in the AI industry chain has belonged to chips. NVIDIA’s GPUs became the core asset of global capital markets, while servers, optical modules, and data centers—all tied to computing power—became recurring themes in A-share market trading.

But as 2026 approaches, a new shift is emerging. The market is turning its attention from the most upstream chips to segments closer to manufacturing. A component long considered part of traditional electronics manufacturing—the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) —is now becoming a critical part of AI infrastructure upgrades.

Since September, the PCB supply chain has been consistently active. From high-speed PCBs to copper-clad laminates and copper foil materials, multiple listed companies have drawn market attention.

As of the close on September 23, Aohong Electronics maintained its strong momentum, recording seven涨停板 (daily price limit ups) in nine trading days. Daya Shengxiang, despite clarifying that its ultra-thin PCB fiberboard used in wood-based panels is not an electronic component and does not form part of a PCB—serving only as a protective pad beneath copper-clad laminates (PCB raw materials) during drilling—still saw its stock price rise for four consecutive daily limits. Additionally, stocks such as Zhongyi Technology, Jitai Shares, Jiangnan New Materials, and Yidun Electronics also hit daily limit ups.

The market is no longer trading merely on “AI concepts.” It is now focused on a more practical question: As AI computing power continues to expand, who can support the next generation of computing infrastructure?

The answer is pointing to a single circuit board.

01 The Underestimated PCB: A Bottleneck for AI Computing Power

The AI competition over the past two years has essentially been a race for computing power. Whoever has more GPUs and larger data centers possesses stronger large-model training capabilities. As a result, capital markets first focused on chips—AI chips, servers, and optical modules became the most sought-after segments of the industry chain.

However, as AI infrastructure continues to expand, a new question arises: If the number of GPUs keeps increasing, where will the real bottleneck for AI development lie?

The answer is shifting from chips to the entire system. The reason is simple: AI servers are no longer the same as traditional servers.

• Traditional servers rely more on CPUs for computation.
• AI servers require a large number of GPUs to work in coordination.

This means higher data transmission volumes, higher signal frequencies, greater power consumption, and more complex connectivity requirements. The stronger the chip performance, the higher the demands on the infrastructure that supports it. It is in this process that the importance of PCBs has been rediscovered.

PCBs are known as the “mother of electronic products.” In the past, they primarily served a connecting function—needed in phones, computers, and automotive electronics alike. But AI servers are changing this logic. AI servers do not require ordinary PCBs; they need high-speed, high-frequency, low-loss PCBs capable of handling data transmission between GPUs, switching chips, high-speed memory, and power systems.

A single PCB now determines whether the entire computing system can operate efficiently. This is why the value of the AI industry chain is migrating from chips to infrastructure.

02 Beyond Chips: A “Copper Foil War” in AI Hardware

If we further break down a high-end PCB, we find that the real competition is not just in PCB manufacturing but also in upstream materials, which are becoming a new battleground.

Behind a high-performance PCB lie copper foil, fiberglass cloth, resin, and copper-clad laminates. Among these, copper-clad laminates determine PCB performance, and AI servers require high-frequency, high-speed materials.

During high-speed data transmission, signal loss becomes a limiting factor, making low-loss materials increasingly important. HVLP copper foil is a representative example.

Compared to ordinary copper foil, HVLP copper foil reduces signal loss during high-speed transmission and is a key material for AI server high-speed PCBs.

According to a research report from Dongwu Securities:

• In 2026, demand for high-end HVLP copper foil specifically for AI servers is expected to reach approximately 24,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of about 260%.
• By 2027, demand is projected to further rise to 50,000 tons.

However, high-end materials cannot be produced simply by expanding capacity. They require equipment upgrades, process accumulation, and customer certification. This means a new supply-demand contradiction is forming in the AI industry chain: not all PCBs are scarce; what is truly scarce are the high-end PCBs and materials that meet AI server requirements.

This is why capital markets are re-evaluating PCB companies. Wus Printed Circuit (Kunshan) Co., Ltd. is a typical example.

• In the past, investors viewed Wus primarily as a PCB manufacturer.
• In the AI era, the market is reinterpreting its value: the company’s core value lies not just in manufacturing PCBs, but in producing high-end PCBs that meet the demands of high-speed servers.

This shift means that PCB companies are transforming from traditional electronics manufacturers into AI infrastructure suppliers.

A similar change is happening among material companies. Shengyi Technology represents the direction of copper-clad laminates.

• In the past, material companies often occupied a lower position in the industry chain.
• In the AI era, a new logic is forming: materials determine the performance ceiling.

Without better materials, chip performance cannot be fully unleashed, and server speeds cannot be further improved. Therefore, AI competition is not only about chips but also about materials.

Meanwhile, companies such as Dongshan Precision and Shenghong Technology are also making continuous investments in the high-end PCB field. They all face the same industry trend: the growth in AI server demand is driving the PCB industry from scale-based competition to technology-based competition.

• In the past, whoever had lower costs had the advantage.
• In the future, whoever can produce higher-end products will have the advantage.

03 AI’s “Shovel Sellers”: It’s the PCB’s Turn

Every industrial revolution goes through a similar process. Initially, capital markets focus on the most dazzling technology.

• The internet era focused on platforms.
• The new energy era focused on vehicles and batteries.
• The AI era initially focused on GPUs and large models.

But as the industry enters the scaling phase, the market begins to look for infrastructure. The PCB is at this stage now.

It is not the most glamorous part of the AI industry, but it is an unavoidable link for AI to achieve large-scale deployment. After all, AI does not ultimately run on concepts—it runs on servers, servers run in data centers, and data centers run on a vast number of basic components.

Therefore, the AI industry chain will inevitably return to manufacturing.

However, capital markets must also see the other side. The PCB industry has experienced multiple cycles in the past: demand rises, companies expand capacity, capacity is released, and prices fall.

The biggest difference this time is that AI-driven demand is more concentrated in the high-end segment.

Companies that will truly benefit in the future need to meet three conditions:

1. High-end product capabilities
2. Access to core customer supply chains
3. Ability to convert demand into profits

Capital markets can trade on industry trends in advance, but what ultimately determines a company’s value is still orders and financial data.

This is why the AI PCB rally will not simply replicate past electronics cycles. The future competition is not about who has more capacity, but about who masters the most scarce manufacturing capabilities in the AI era.

Over the past two years, people searched for those who build the AI brain. Then they searched for those who connect the AI brain. Now, they are searching for those who support the operation of the AI brain.

A PCB may seem like just a circuit board inside an electronic device. But in the AI era, it carries more than just circuits—it carries the entire computing infrastructure: from GPUs to optical modules, to PCBs, and then to copper foil, copper-clad laminates, and testing equipment.

Artificial intelligence will ultimately return to manufacturing. And a single PCB is becoming the new “shovel-selling business” of the AI era.

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