KB LAMINATES (01888) rose more than 5% during the morning session, reaching a new record high. At the time of writing, the stock was up 4.68%, trading at HKD 28.16 with a turnover of HKD 329 million.

The price increase follows reports that three major high-end copper clad laminate (CCL) suppliers, including TUC, TAIYO, and ITEQ, have recently begun communicating price adjustments to their customers. Among them, TAIYO has issued an official notice to customers, announcing an increase in CCL prices effective April 25th, with some product series seeing hikes of 20% to 40%. TUC and ITEQ have announced they will initiate a new round of price increases for high-end materials starting in the second quarter, both with an increase of 10%, primarily targeting high-end applications such as AI servers and switches.

A research report from CITIC Securities noted that since April, numerous leading CCL companies have intensively issued price hike notices, significantly improving the visibility of steady growth in the profitability of the CCL sector. The institution forecasts that CCL profitability is likely to remain stable in the first quarter of 2026 and begin to improve in the second quarter. From an industry perspective, the logic for substantial price increases in traditional CCLs during a favorable economic cycle is clear. The improvement in profit margins is expected to gradually materialize in the first half of 2026. The CCL sector benefits from both pricing power and increasing demand driven by AI, with the potential for the magnitude and duration of price hikes from the second quarter of 2026 onwards to exceed expectations.