CCL Market Sees Volume and Price Surge Driven by AI Server Upgrades, High-End Share Hits 38%

Report Date: September 28, 2026

Analysts:

• Wu Qidi | Practice Registration No.: A0190523020001
• Song Jinzhi | Practice Registration No.: A0190526020002

Key Investment Highlights

CCL Market Exceeds RMB 100 Billion, High-End Share Continues to Rise

Copper Clad Laminate (CCL) is made by impregnating glass fiber fabric with resin and laminating copper foil on one or both sides under heat and pressure. It serves three core functions in PCBs: conduction, insulation, and support. CCL represents the segment with the highest technical barriers and greatest profit elasticity in the PCB supply chain.

On the cost side, direct materials account for approximately 60% of PCB costs, with CCL comprising about 30% — making it the central cost component. CCL's own cost structure is: copper foil (42%), resin (26%), and glass fiber fabric (19%).

According to Prismark, the global CCL market in 2024 was approximately RMB 100 billion. The top four manufacturers — Kingboard, Shengyi Technology, Taiwan Union Technology, and Nan Ya Plastics — held a combined market share of about 50%.

As end products evolve toward thinner, lighter, smaller, and higher-frequency/higher-speed designs, CCL is being pushed toward high-frequency, high-speed applications. In 2024, revenue from specialty CCL (Grade M7 and above) reached USD 5.705 billion, up 40% year-on-year, with its share rising from 32% in 2023 to 38%. M7–M9 grade products are primarily used in AI server high-speed backplanes and 800G/1.6T optical modules, with per-sheet value several times that of standard FR-4. High-end development has become the core growth engine for the industry.

AI Server Iteration Drives Both Volume and Price Growth for CCL

Price: NVIDIA's CCL platform has upgraded from GB200's M4+M8 to Rubin's M8/M9: Switch boards exceed 40 layers at M9 grade with Q-fabric; Midplane boards are 44 layers at M9 grade; Rubin Ultra orthogonal backplanes reach 78 layers; the next-generation Feynman backplane is expected to reach 144 layers, potentially doubling layer count. Google's TPU v8 and Amazon's Trainium3 are also migrating from M7 to M8.

Volume: Increasing rack architecture complexity drives per-unit usage growth: Hopper uses ~212 sheets per rack, GB200/GB300 ~164 sheets, and VR200 ~578 sheets — a 1.7x increase over Hopper and 2.5x over GB200. On the ASIC side, Google TPU per-server usage rose from 144 sheets (V6) to 200 sheets (V8).

Our estimates: CCL demand for 2025–2027 is 22.56 million, 56.65 million, and 118.99 million sheets respectively, representing year-on-year growth of +4%, +151%, and +110%. This dual driver of volume and price is sustaining strong industry momentum.

CCL Core Raw Materials

The ramp-up of high-end CCL is shifting bottlenecks upstream, with electronic fabric and copper foil forming dual constraints.

Electronic Fabric: Upgrades from E-grade to NE-grade, L-grade, and Q-grade fabrics bring corresponding price increases. High-end electronic fabric can essentially only be produced on Toyota JAT910 looms. Toyota has an annual capacity of 2,400 units with orders scheduled through 2030. Low-Dk fabric production efficiency is only 40% of FR-4. Net new electronic yarn capacity for 2026–2028 is only 116,000 / 36,000 / 78,000 tons respectively, with no new capacity coming online in 2027. G75 electronic yarn prices have risen from RMB 9,000/ton to RMB 16,850/ton.

Copper Foil: M6 and above requires HVLP copper foil. The Rubin platform upgrades to HVLP4 (roughness 0.4–0.6μm), with domestic quotes around RMB 180,000/ton — far above standard foil at RMB 17,000–19,000/ton. High-end HVLP is dominated by Mitsui Mining & Smelting (~50% market share), with only three suppliers capable of HVLP4. Mitsui also monopolizes 3μm ultra-thin copper foil.

Tongguan Copper Foil has taken the lead in achieving批量出货 of HVLP, while Defu and others are in the validation stage. Domestic substitution is accelerating, laying the groundwork for domestic CCL to break through M8 and above.

Related Stocks

1) PCB Board Manufacturers:

• Shengyi Technology

-东山精密 -鹏鼎控股 -景旺电子 -沪电股份 -广合科技

• Shengyi Technology

-世运电路

2) CCL and Electronic Fabric:

• Shengyi Technology

-生益电子

• Nan Ya Plastics

-中国巨石 -中材科技 -宏和科技 -国际复材

Risk Warnings

• AI server demand falling short of expectations
• Raw material price volatility risk
• High-end product technology breakthroughs and capacity release falling short of expectations
• Price increase sustainability risk

PCB Index vs. CSI 300 Index Performance

Source: Wind, Yuanda Information Securities Research Institute

Full Report

I. CCL Market Exceeds RMB 100 Billion, High-End Share Continues to Rise

1.1 CCL is the Core Substrate for PCBs

Copper Clad Laminate (CCL) is a board material made by impregnating glass fiber fabric with resin, covering one or both sides with copper foil, and laminating under heat and pressure. It performs three key functions in PCBs: conduction, insulation, and support.

According to Prismark, direct materials including CCL, copper foil, and phosphor copper balls account for approximately 60% of PCB costs, with CCL alone comprising about 30% — making it the core cost component. CCL's three main raw materials — copper foil, resin, and glass fiber fabric — account for 42%, 26%, and 19% of CCL costs respectively. Copper foil prices are primarily driven by copper prices, while glass fiber fabric prices are more influenced by supply-demand dynamics.

CCL directly benefits from the rapid demand growth driven by AI server end-market expansion:

• Upstream: Copper foil, electronic resin, and electronic glass fiber fabric
• Midstream: CCL manufacturing — the segment with the highest technical barriers and greatest profit elasticity
• Downstream: PCB manufacturing and packaging substrates

Figure 3: CCL Industry Chain Breakdown

Source: Company announcements, Prismark, Yuanda Information Securities Research Institute

The CCL industry is relatively concentrated. According to Prismark, the 2024 CCL market size was approximately RMB 100 billion. The top four suppliers — Kingboard, Shengyi Technology, Taiwan Union Technology, and Nan Ya Plastics — held market shares (by revenue) of 14%, 14%, 13%, and 9% respectively, with a combined share of approximately 50%.

Figure 4: 2024 Global CCL Industry Structure (by Revenue)

Source: Prismark, Yuanda Information Securities Research Institute

1.2 CCL Moves Toward High-End, M7 and Above Growing Rapidly

End products continue to evolve toward thinner, lighter, smaller, and higher-frequency/higher-speed designs, pushing PCBs toward higher density and performance, and consequently driving CCL toward high-frequency, high-speed applications. In high-speed applications, with 5G communication technology iteration, signal frequencies and transmission rates have significantly increased, with theoretical rates reaching 10–20 Gbps. This requires supporting CCL to have at least medium-to-low grade dielectric loss characteristics. For CCL materials, lower Df (dielectric loss) values correspond to higher technical barriers in material R&D and manufacturing.

Figure 5: High-Speed Interconnect Technology Requirements for CCL Materials

Source: "224G High-Speed Interconnect Requirements for PCB and CCL," Yuanda Information Securities Research Institute

Driven by AI demand expansion, specialty CCL (M7 and above) is growing rapidly. The industry uses Panasonic's M-series as a common technical benchmark: higher grades correspond to lower dielectric constant (Dk) and dielectric loss (Df), enabling higher compatible speeds. M7–M9 grades are used in AI server high-speed backplanes and 800G/1.6T optical modules, with per-sheet prices several times that of standard FR-4.

In 2024, specialty CCL (M7 and above) generated USD 5.705 billion in revenue, accounting for 38% of the market and growing 40% year-on-year. Standard FR-4 generated USD 4.354 billion (29% share), with growth of only 1%. The specialty segment's share jumped from 32% in 2023 to 38% in 2024.

Table 1: CCL Grades, Applications, and Key Manufacturers

Source: wccftech, Yuanda Information Securities Research Institute

II. AI Server Iteration Drives Both Volume and Price Growth for CCL

2.1 Price: Grade-by-Grade Upgrades

AI server iteration drives CCL value growth. NVIDIA's CCL platform has upgraded from GB200's M4+M8 to Rubin's M8/M9:

• Switch boards: 40+ layers, M9 grade with Q-fabric
• Midplane boards: 44 layers (2×22), M9 grade
• Rubin Ultra orthogonal backplane: 78 layers (3×26), using Taiwan Union Technology EM-896K3 (M9)
• Next-generation Feynman orthogonal backplane: expected 144 layers (6×24), potentially doubling layer count

Google's TPU v8 and Amazon's Trainium3 are also migrating from M7 to M8.

Table 2: CCL Configuration Evolution for NVIDIA and Cloud Provider Core Components

Source: NVIDIA official website, JPM, Yuanda Information Securities Research Institute

2.2 Volume: Architecture Changes Drive New Demand

Architecture changes are generating additional CCL demand:

• Hopper: ~212 sheets per rack (16 Compute motherboards + 5 Switch motherboards × 12 sheets/board/4)
• GB200/GB300: ~164 sheets
• VR200: ~578 sheets (36 Compute motherboards × 5 sheets/board + 9 Switch motherboards × 40 sheets/board + 38 backplane sheets)
• 1.7x increase over Hopper
• 2.5x increase over GB200

On the ASIC side, using Google TPU as an example, per-server usage rose from 144 sheets (V6) to 200 sheets (V8).

Our estimates:

• 2025: 22.56 million sheets (+4% YoY)
• 2026: 56.65 million sheets (+151% YoY)
• 2027: 118.99 million sheets (+110% YoY)

The core growth drivers are the expansion of AI server shipments and the incremental substrate demand generated by the increasing complexity of next-generation computing hardware architectures.

Table 3: AI Server Demand-Driven CCL Demand Estimates

Source: NVIDIA official website, JPM, Yuanda Information Securities Research Institute

III. CCL Core Raw Materials

3.1 Electronic Fabric: Dual Constraints from Looms and Electronic Yarn

Electronic fabric is classified by performance:

• Standard E-grade fabric
• Low-Dk first-generation fabric (NE-grade)
• Low-Dk second-generation fabric (L-grade)
• Low-CTE fabric
• Q-grade fabric (quartz fabric)

Dk decreases from 6.2–6.6 (E-grade) to 3.5–3.8 (Q-grade), while Df decreases from approximately 0.006 to approximately 0.0002. Prices range from approximately RMB 8/meter (E-grade) to over RMB 200/meter (Q-grade), with first-generation fabric at ~RMB 26/meter and second-generation at RMB 150–160/meter.

According to Kingboard's announcements, the company has raised prices nine times since August 2025, with FR-4 prices accumulating nearly 70% increases in 2026.

Table 4: Electronic Fabric Types, Applications, and Key Manufacturers

Source: Kingboard official website, Yuanda Information Securities Research Institute

Supply constraints for electronic fabric come from two areas:

1) Loom Equipment Monopoly + Efficiency Loss:

• High-end electronic fabric can essentially only be produced on Toyota JAT910 looms
• Toyota annual capacity: 2,400 units, no expansion plans, orders scheduled through 2030
• Delivery lead time: 18–24 months
• Market concentration: Toyota (50%), Tsudakoma (20%), domestic manufacturers (30% — Rifa, Taitan, etc.)
• Domestic looms still have a generational gap in core processes like tension control; expected to enter some markets only after 2027
• Critical efficiency issue: Low-Dk fabric production efficiency is only 40% of FR-4; switching from E-grade to AI high-end fabric results in approximately 60% efficiency loss

2) Electronic Yarn Capacity Nearly Stalled:

• Net new actual capacity additions: 2026 (116,000 tons), 2027 (36,000 tons), 2028 (78,000 tons)
• Corresponding year-on-year capacity growth: +10.8%, +3.1%, +6.4%
• No new capacity coming online in 2027; relief only expected in 2028 when China Jushi's 50,000-ton capacity comes online
• Some electronic yarn diverted to AI applications means even lower growth in standard yarn production
• Price: G75 electronic yarn rose from RMB 9,000/ton (September 2025) to RMB 16,850/ton (July 2026), with month-on-month increases in May–July at times exceeding those of 7628 electronic fabric

Figure 6: G75 Electronic Yarn and 7628 Electronic Fabric Prices

Source: Zhuochuang Information, Yuanda Information Securities Research Institute

3.2 Copper Foil: High-End HVLP Supply Concentration, Domestic Substitution Accelerating

The core driver of copper foil technology upgrades is the skin effect — the higher the signal frequency, the more current concentrates on the conductor surface, requiring stricter surface roughness specifications.

• M6 and below: RTF copper foil
• M6 and above: HVLP copper foil
• GB200/GB300: HVLP3
• Rubin upgrade: HVLP4 (roughness 0.4–0.6μm)

Processing fee premiums by generation are significant:

• HTE standard foil: RMB 17,000–19,000/ton
• RTF: RMB 25,000–37,000/ton
• HVLP4 (domestic): approximately RMB 180,000/ton

Supply side:

• Global PCB copper foil capacity: approximately 1.2 million tons (China accounts for 70%)
• High-end HVLP dominated by Mitsui Mining & Smelting (~50% global share)
• HVLP4: only three suppliers — CircuitFoil, Mitsui, and SK Nexilis
• 3μm ultra-thin copper foil: monopolized by Mitsui; domestic production still far from commercialization

Domestic progress:

• Tongguan Copper Foil: First to achieve批量出货 of HVLP (2024 H2)
• Defu, Jinbao: In validation stage
• This is a necessary precondition for domestic CCL to break through to M8 and above grades

Table 5: Copper Foil Classification, Applications, and Key Manufacturers

Source: Company announcements, Yuanda Information Securities Research Institute

IV. Related Stocks

4.1 Related Stocks

1) PCB Board Manufacturers:

• Shengyi Technology

-东山精密 -鹏鼎控股 -景旺电子 -沪电股份 -广合科技

• Shengyi Technology

-世运电路

2) CCL and Electronic Fabric:

• Shengyi Technology

-生益电子

• Nan Ya Plastics

-中国巨石 -中材科技 -宏和科技 -国际复材

4.2 Wind Earnings Forecasts

Table 6: Key Company Wind Consensus Earnings Forecasts

Source: Wind consensus estimates (September 24, 2026), Yuanda Information Securities Research Institute

V. Risk Warnings

• AI server demand falling short of expectations
• Raw material price volatility risk
• High-end product technology breakthroughs and capacity release falling short of expectations
• Price increase sustainability risk

Investment Rating Description

Analyst Declaration

The authors possess securities investment advisory practice qualifications granted by the Securities Association of China and are registered as securities analysts. With diligent professional ethics, they independently and objectively produce this report. The analytical logic is based on the authors' professional understanding, and this report clearly and accurately reflects the authors' research views. No portion of the authors' compensation has been, is, or will be directly or indirectly related to specific recommendations or views in this report. This is hereby declared.

Important Disclaimer

Hebei Yuanda Information Technology Co., Ltd. holds securities investment advisory business qualifications, with business license number: 911301001043661976.

This report is limited to distribution within mainland China and is intended only for clients of Hebei Yuanda Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "the Company"). The Company will not treat recipients of this report as clients solely by virtue of receipt. Information in this report is sourced from publicly available materials. The Company makes no warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of such information, nor does it guarantee that information or recommendations contained herein will not change. The Company has strived for objectivity and fairness in the report's content, but the views, conclusions, and recommendations are for reference only and do not constitute a definitive judgment on securities price movements or market trends. Information or opinions expressed in this report do not constitute investment advice to any person. Investors should independently evaluate the information and opinions in this report.

This report reflects only the Company's judgment as of the date of publication. The Company may issue other reports with inconsistent information or different conclusions at different times. The views, opinions, and analytical methods reflected in this report represent those of the researchers and do not necessarily represent the position of the Company or its affiliates. The Company may modify information contained in this report without notice, and investors should monitor updates or modifications accordingly.

To the extent known to the Company and the authors, there are no conflicts of interest with securities evaluated or recommended in this report that require disclosure or impose trading restrictions or quiet periods under applicable laws and regulations.

The copyright of this report belongs solely to the Company. No organization or individual may reproduce, copy, or distribute this report in any form without written permission. Any citation must credit Yuanda Information Securities Research Institute as the source, and no reproduction may be made that distorts the original meaning. Publications or distributions of this securities research report or summaries thereof shall indicate the publisher and publication date and highlight the risks of using securities research reports. The Company reserves the right to pursue legal liability for unauthorized publication or distribution of this report.

Financial Statements and Indicator Forecasts