>> Behind a server PCB worth 12,000 yuan lies a hidden story of breakthroughs in domestic high-end manufacturing equipment.
The global PCB industry is undergoing a technological revolution driven by AI computing power. In 2024, the total global PCB output value is expected to reach $73.346 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%, with the market for multilayer boards with more than 18 layers growing by as much as 40.3%.
On the production line of Shenghong Technology in Huizhou, Guangdong, high-end HDI boards are being produced day and night, equipped with NVIDIA’s GB200 servers and shipped worldwide. The PCB of a single GB200 server is worth 12,000 yuan, which is 5-8 times that of traditional servers.
“Positioning ourselves as the TSMC of the PCB industry,” said Chen Tao, chairman of Shenghong Technology, at an industrial innovation seminar in Huizhou, aiming to achieve a revenue of 20 billion yuan by 2028.
1.The Global PCB Recovery and Explosion of High-End Demand
After the industry downturn in 2023, the PCB market is experiencing a strong recovery driven by the wave of AI computing power. According to Prismark data, the global PCB output value is expected to grow by 5.8% year-on-year in 2024, reaching $73.6 billion, with a projected growth of 6.8% in 2025.
The biggest engine of market recovery comes from AI servers and data center construction.
According to a report by CICC, the market size for AI-related PCBs is expected to reach $5.6 billion by 2025 (as predicted by CICC), and will further grow to $10 billion by 2026. High-end PCB products are showing a trend of simultaneous increase in both volume and price:
On the technical level, HDI (High-Density Interconnect) and multilayer boards with more than 18 layers have become the fastest-growing areas. In 2024, the global HDI output value is expected to grow by 18.8%, far exceeding the industry average. Shenghong Technology has already mass-produced 28-layer octa HDI and 14-layer arbitrary interconnection boards, leading the industry by 2-3 years in technology.
The core growth driver for high-end PCBs comes from the upgrade of AI computing hardware. The value of a single GPU in NVIDIA’s GB200 server reaches $394 for HDI, an increase of 298.7% compared to the H100. The PCB value of a single AI server is 5-8 times that of traditional servers.
2.The Expansion Race of Major PCB Manufacturers
In the face of explosive demand, global leading PCB companies are launching an expansion wave. According to CICC statistics, the seven listed PCB companies in A-shares have announced a total investment of approximately 32 billion yuan for capacity expansion.
Shenghong Technology is investing 3.768 billion yuan in expansion, adding 150,000 square meters/year of high-end HDI capacity at its bases in Vietnam and Thailand, accounting for 23% of existing capacity. The AI computing power expansion project at the company’s fourth factory in Huizhou is dedicated to producing the 28-layer accelerator card PCBs required for NVIDIA’s GB200 servers, adding 120,000 square meters of high-end HDI capacity.
Huadian Co., Ltd. has seen AI server-related product revenue account for 29.48%, while high-speed network switch products account for 38.56%. The company expects a year-on-year net profit growth of 44.63%-53.40% in the first half of 2025 and is actively promoting the construction of HDI production lines worth over 4 billion yuan.
The industry’s expansion scale far exceeds the market demand increment. According to incomplete statistics, domestic manufacturers’ expansion of high-end AI PCBs is close to 70 billion yuan, far exceeding the expected increase in AI PCB demand next year.
3.The Technological Breakthrough of Invisible Champions
Behind the large-scale expansion of the PCB industry, a domestic invisible champion in the equipment field is rising—ChipMOS Technology (688630.SH). As a leader in domestic direct write lithography machines, the company’s products cover the entire series of PCB processes including HDI, IC substrates, exposure, solder mask, and drilling.
Compared to traditional exposure equipment, direct write lithography machines have significant advantages in high-end PCB manufacturing. As line width requirements become increasingly fine, traditional exposure equipment can no longer meet the precision requirements for PCBs used in AI servers. ChipMOS Technology’s products have a minimum line width of 3-4 microns, with a continuous increase in market penetration in the high-end sector.
Customer expansion has achieved remarkable results. The company has established comprehensive coverage with leading global PCB companies, achieving deep cooperation with companies such as Unimicron Technology, Shenghong Technology, and Shenzhen South Circuit, and successfully entering the supply chain system of BOE.
Financial data confirms growth potential. From 2020 to 2024, the company’s revenue grew from 310 million yuan to 954 million yuan, and net profit increased from 71 million yuan to 161 million yuan. In the first quarter of 2025, revenue grew by 22.31% year-on-year, and net profit increased by 30.45%.
4.Growth Bottlenecks and Solutions
Despite leading technology, ChipMOS Technology’s revenue scale is still insufficient compared to the nearly $100 billion PCB market. There are two major constraints behind this: capacity limitations and the market substitution process.
Capacity bottlenecks are evident. Starting from the second quarter of 2024, the company’s factory operations are expected to be at full capacity, with order deliveries scheduled until the third quarter of 2025. The revenue growth rate in the first quarter of 2024-2025 is only about 20%, which is lower than the market demand growth rate.
In terms of market scale, the substitution of direct write lithography machines for traditional exposure machines is still ongoing. In 2024, the global direct write lithography market is expected to reach approximately $1.2 billion, but it is growing rapidly—between 2018 and 2023, the shipment volume of direct write lithography machines in China has a compound annual growth rate of 37%.
The company has adopted three major strategies to break through:
Capacity expansion: The second-phase base construction plan is expected to be put into use in mid-2025, with a capacity more than double that of the first phase, potentially increasing the maximum capacity to over 1,500 units.
Overseas expansion: A factory is being built in Thailand, with the proportion of overseas revenue rising from nearly 0% in 2020 to 19.72% in 2024. The gross profit margin of exported products is as high as 45.59%, which is 10 percentage points higher than domestic sales.
Breakthroughs in the semiconductor field: Direct write lithography equipment aimed at wafer-level packaging, 2.5D/3D packaging, and other advanced packaging fields has established cooperation with Changdian Technology and Huatian Technology, with some products validated and ready for shipment.
5.The Vast Ocean of the Semiconductor Market
The true blue ocean for direct write lithography technology lies in the semiconductor field. ChipMOS Technology has laid out key links in semiconductor manufacturing, with its equipment applicable to advanced packaging and mask manufacturing, filling a domestic gap.
In the mask manufacturing field, the company’s direct write lithography machine can replace traditional mask-making processes, breaking the overseas monopoly, and is advancing the research and development of 65nm technology. This is a key material field in semiconductor manufacturing, with a very high technical threshold.
In advanced packaging, the company’s flagship product WLP2000 successfully completed product validation for 3-4 advanced packaging customers in 2024, with some customers entering the mass production preparation stage. As TSMC and other giants promote the expansion of CoWoS advanced packaging capacity, the demand for related equipment will continue to be released.
ChipMOS Technology’s chairman stated in 2024: “The market space for direct write lithography in the semiconductor field is more than ten times that of PCBs.” This judgment is being validated by industry trends.
The machines at the Thailand production base are about to roar, with the global export ratio continuing to rise to 60%. After the second-phase base of ChipMOS Technology is put into production in 2025, capacity will double, with maximum capacity expected to exceed 1,500 units, and orders already scheduled until the third quarter.
The overseas market has become a new growth point, with a gross profit margin of 45.59% for exports, which is 10 percentage points higher than domestic sales.
On the other hand, the door to the semiconductor field is slowly opening. ChipMOS Technology’s WLP2000 equipment has completed validation with multiple advanced packaging customers, and the development of 65nm mask-making technology is underway. Just as Northern Huachuang rose from a difficult start to become a backbone of domestic semiconductor equipment, direct write lithography technology is writing a new story of domestic substitution in the high-end manufacturing field.
#AI Computing Power #PCB Equipment #Domestic Substitution #ChipMOS Technology #Semiconductor
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