{"text":[[{"start":8.99,"text":"They function as the nervous system of advanced electronics and AI hardware, with circuity made from compressed copper."}],[{"start":18.240000000000002,"text":"Copper-clad laminates (CCL) serve as a base material for the circuit boards that drive electronic devices and high-performance computing, enabling the ongoing boom in artificial intelligence."}],[{"start":32.24,"text":"Kingboard Laminates Holdings Ltd. (1888.HK), as one of the leading suppliers of the copper-based electronic laminates, is cashing in on the AI-fueled demand, telling investors it expects to post a big leap in annual profits for 2025."}],[{"start":50.68000000000001,"text":"In a Feb. 23 earnings alert, Kingboard Laminates estimated that its annual net profit would achieve a year-on-year rise of 80% to top HK$2.39 billion ($310 million). The company cited buoyant demand for the laminates and their components — including fiberglass yarn, fiberglass fabric and copper foil — with both unit prices and sales volumes rising."}],[{"start":78.03,"text":"Its parent company, the Hong Kong-based conglomerate Kingboard Holdings (0148.HK), has also flagged up a big earnings jump, forecasting that its 2025 net profit would surge 165% to more than HK$4.32 billion, driven by a rebound in its core materials business and investment activities."}],[{"start":101.72,"text":"Turn the clock back a few years, and the laminates industry was grappling with a downturn on weakening demand from the electronics sector. The global market for printed circuit boards (PCBs) shrank 4% in 2023 to around $78.37 billion from the prior year, according to data from industry research firm Prismark. Likewise, the CCL market saw prices for mid- to low-end materials decline after 2022, with some products suffering cumulative drops of more than 20%. Capacity utilization rates at many manufacturers fell to around 60% as the electronic materials sector rapidly cooled from its peak."}],[{"start":145.87,"text":"It was not until the second half of 2024 that signs of a turnaround emerged, propelled by demand for AI servers, high-speed switching equipment and automotive electronics requiring high-grade laminates and thick copper boards. According to estimates from the Taiwan Printed Circuit Association (TPCA), global PCB output value is estimated to have reached around $92.36 billion in 2025 and could rise to about $105.2 billion in 2026."}],[{"start":180.72,"text":"Driven by the demands of AI, the global CCL market is shifting from traditional applications toward higher value-added products. Market research reports project the global CCL market to have reached $14.51 billion in 2025 and to rise to around $15.67 billion in 2026, a compound annual growth rate of about 8%. The reports note that demand for high-end, low-loss and ultra-high-speed CCL products is growing much faster than for conventional laminates."}],[{"start":217.6,"text":"Fiberglass fabric"}],[{"start":221.18,"text":"Unlike many peers that focus solely on the end-product, Kingboard operates across the cycle from fiberglass yarn and fabric to copper foil and finished laminates, supplying most of the main raw materials itself."}],[{"start":236.33,"text":"The fiberglass elements, typically combined with resin, reinforce and insulate the conductive copper foil to protect the printed circuit boards from failing or warping."}],[{"start":247.12,"text":"The company has invested in expanding its capacity to produce those upstream substrates. In early 2026, it announced it was investing nearly 2 billion yuan (around $260 million) in its project at the Shixing Industrial Park in Guangdong, targeting electronic-grade fiberglass fabric and electronic yarn. It expects the new production lines to start coming on stream by the middle of this year, with projected output value of about 1.05 billion yuan a year."}],[{"start":278.1,"text":"Through these moves, the company is aiming to push further into value-added CCL segments, hoping to capture processing margins on laminates during upcycles as well as any gains from rising raw material prices. In downturns, the internal supply cushion could help protect the firm against volatile input costs."}],[{"start":298.89000000000004,"text":"The driving force behind the Kingboard group is founder Cheung Kwok Wing, who started in copper-clad laminates in the 1980s and steadily expanded operations to build an integrated supply chain. Kingboard Laminates was spun off from the wider group with a separate Hong Kong listing in 2006. "}],[{"start":319.63000000000005,"text":"Under Cheung, the Kingboard group gained a reputation as a savvy investor. Kingboard once accumulated a sizable stake in Cathay Pacific through its two listed companies and made a big profit by trimming the holdings as the aviation sector recovered."}],[{"start":337.21000000000004,"text":"Exposure to troubled real estate developers proved to be less of a success for the group, but the investment strategies have provided a flexible cash flow to invest in expanding facilities for inputs such fiberglass and copper foil even when electronic materials prices languished at cyclical lows. When CCL demand rebounds, the expanded capacity allows the company to absorb new orders and lift profits."}],[{"start":364.46000000000004,"text":"Investors have been reevaluating the outlook for Kingboard Laminates, whose shares have surged about 148% to HK$24.2 over the past year, rebounding from depths of around HK$4.9 in February 2024. Since the start of 2026 alone, the stock is up roughly 83%."}],[{"start":389.25000000000006,"text":"Kingboard Laminates is trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of about 49 times. That multiple exceeds the historical range for traditional electronic materials stocks but is still modest compared with mainland CCL producers such as Shengyi Technology (600183.SH) at around 62.9 times and Nanya New Material (688519.SH) at roughly 180 times. Valuation benchmarks for high-end CCL and electronic materials platforms in China appear to have vaulted up a level while Kingboard Laminates, listed in Hong Kong, has yet to fully catch up."}],[{"start":427.49000000000007,"text":"The company looks poised for a growth phase, backed by rising volumes in high-end laminates and its integrated supply chain. As long as demand for AI and advanced electronics does not falter, there should be scope for the share price to rise."}],[{"start":454.86000000000007,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1772271957_5631.mp3"}