Since the beginning of 2026, the PCB sector has continued its upward trajectory. On the evening of January 21, Jin'an Guji released its 2025 annual performance forecast, projecting attributable net profit to reach 280 million to 360 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 655.53% to 871.40%. The primary reason for the profit growth is the improved market conditions for copper-clad laminates, with the company experiencing a year-on-year increase in both production and sales volume and a recovery in selling prices. Concurrently, the company further focused on its core business, optimized its product mix, and enhanced profitability, leading to a substantial performance improvement compared to the same period last year. As the core upstream base material in the PCB industry chain, the robust profit growth in the copper-clad laminate sector directly signals a recovery in the PCB industry's prosperity and serves as a key catalyst for the sector's performance.
On January 21 itself, the A-share printed circuit board (PCB) sector led the market with a collective surge. The Wind PCB Concept Index rose by 3.77%, with companies like Xinci Micro Equipment, Kexiang Co., Ltd., and InnoLaser seeing gains exceeding 10%, while Han's Laser Technology, Guanghe Technology, Ask Technology, and Honghe Technology hit the daily limit-up. Since the start of 2026, the PCB sector has generally shown a sustained upward trend, with the industry index accumulating a gain of over 8%. Stocks such as Xinci Micro Equipment, Huazheng New Material, and Fangbang Co., Ltd. have performed even more notably, with cumulative increases surpassing 30%, indicating the continuous release of strong sector momentum.
The market size is expanding rapidly. In recent years, the explosive development of AI applications has significantly boosted market demand for high-end printed circuit boards, propelling the industry into a high-growth cycle. Emerging fields, represented by AI servers and intelligent driving, impose higher requirements on the layer count, precision, and reliability of PCBs. This has led to a surge in demand for high-end categories like High-Density Interconnect (HDI) boards and high-layer-count boards. Consequently, global PCB manufacturers are ramping up capital expenditure to expand high-end production capacity and seize growth opportunities.
According to forecasts by consulting firm Prismark, the global PCB market output value is expected to grow by approximately 5.8% in 2024 and about 6.8% in 2025. The PCB industry is projected to sustain growth in the coming years, reaching a global output value of around $94.661 billion by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 5.2% during this period. Prismark also predicts that the CAGR for AI server-related HDI boards from 2023 to 2028 will reach 16.3%, making it the fastest-growing segment within the AI server PCB market.
A Yongxing Securities research report suggests that under the wave of AI technology, computing power demand continues to climb, and the PCB market size related to AI servers and high-performance computing is expected to expand rapidly. As a leading global PCB manufacturing base, China's related industrial chain is poised for potential profit growth in the future.
Industry profitability is trending positively. According to statistics from Securities Times · DataBa, there are nearly 50 individual stocks in the A-share PCB sector. As of January 21, six companies have released their 2025 annual performance forecasts, all indicating positive results. Among them, Jin'an Guji, Shenghong Technology, Xinci Micro Equipment, Guanghe Technology, and Benchuan Intelligent are projected to see year-on-year growth in attributable net profit, while Huazheng New Material is expected to turn a profit. Based on the lower limit of the forecasted net profit growth, Jin'an Guji leads with an increase exceeding 600%.
Shenghong Technology follows, expecting to achieve an attributable net profit of 4.16 billion to 4.56 billion yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 260.35% to 295%, potentially setting a record high since its listing. The company stated that in key areas such as AI computing power, data centers, and high-performance computing, several high-end products have achieved mass production, driving an upgrade in the product mix towards higher value and greater technical complexity. The proportion of high-end products has increased significantly, contributing to the company's performance growth.
The PCB sector demonstrated strong earnings momentum as early as the first three quarters of 2025. Statistics show that among the nearly 50 PCB stocks, 37 achieved year-on-year net profit growth, turned profitable, or reduced losses in the first three quarters of 2025, with a positive reporting ratio exceeding 70%. Notably, 29 companies reported net profits for the first three quarters that had already surpassed their full-year 2024 results, including industry leaders like Shengyi Technology, Shennan Circuits, and Wus Printed Circuit.
Taking Shennan Circuits as an example, the company achieved an attributable net profit of 2.326 billion yuan in the first three quarters of 2025, already exceeding the record for its full-year net profit since listing. During investor communications, the company stated that its new PCB capacity primarily comes from newly built factories and technological upgrades to existing plants. The new factories include the Nantong Phase IV project and the Thailand factory, with the latter currently in trial production and Nantong Phase IV scheduled for commissioning in the fourth quarter of 2025. Additionally, the company is enhancing capacity by conducting technological transformations and upgrades to existing mature PCB factories to alleviate bottlenecks.
Net capital is flowing into the PCB sector. Amid the sustained positive market trend, the PCB sector has attracted capital inflows. According to DataBa statistics, as of January 20, PCB concept stocks have collectively received a net purchase of 1.674 billion yuan in margin financing since the start of 2026. Nine stocks saw net purchases exceeding 100 million yuan each, led by Xingsen Technology, Rongda Photosensitive, and InnoLaser, with amounts reaching 214 million yuan, 171 million yuan, and 167 million yuan, respectively.
Xingsen Technology has recently seen net margin financing purchases for five consecutive trading days. The company revealed on an investor interaction platform that its overall CSP (Chip Scale Package) substrate capacity is 50,000 square meters per month. The original 35,000 square meters per month capacity is fully utilized, and the newly added 15,000 square meters per month capacity is ramping up quickly. Current overall industry demand is strong, and product prices fluctuate with the market.
Among the stocks with net margin purchases exceeding 100 million yuan, InnoLaser, Putech Technology, and Shihua Circuits have received institutional research visits since the beginning of 2026, with 53, 17, and 12 institutions visiting, respectively.
During the research visit, InnoLaser indicated that since 2025, the company's PCB business has begun to yield significant results after prolonged effort. Specifically, its PCB forming equipment has secured orders totaling nearly 90 million yuan, and its ultrafast laser drilling equipment has also received its first order.