AIPCB Electroplated Copper Powder Materials Entering a Prosperous Cycle
Investment Recommendation: AI-driven PCB products are upgrading towards high aspect ratios, multiple blind buried holes, driving strong demand for AIPCB electroplated copper powder materials, leading to a rapid increase in both volume and price, thus boosting industry profits. We believe that the industry will experience a prosperous cycle due to short-term capacity constraints.
1. AIPCB Drives Rapid Growth in Processing Profit Margins for the Copper Powder Industry. Copper balls and copper powder are consumables for PCB electroplating, accounting for 6% and 13% of PCB costs, respectively. The thickness and layer count of AIPCB boards have significantly increased, with the number of blind buried holes growing geometrically. The filling process is complex, and the hole standards are thicker. To address the electroplating uniformity challenges brought by high aspect ratios, the industry’s copper powder usage is expected to continue to rise. We anticipate that by 2029, the proportion of PCB copper powder consumables in electroplating consumables will increase from the current 15% to over 27%. The processing fee for copper powder is 4-5 times that of copper balls, which we believe will significantly drive rapid growth in processing profit margins for the copper powder industry.
2. Stable Supply and Rapidly Growing Demand Indicate Potential for Processing Fee Increases in the Short Term. In the copper powder sector, Japanese and Korean companies still maintain a leading edge in cutting-edge technologies such as product purity and particle size control. Currently, domestic Jiangnan New Materials and Taixing Smelting Plant have capacities of 30,000 and 14,500 tons, respectively, while Guanghua Technology has a capacity of over 10,000 tons. We expect that by the second half of 2026, domestic manufacturers will add over 30,000 tons of new capacity. Before the new capacity is released, strong downstream demand will create a tight supply-demand balance, potentially leading to signs of price increases in copper powder processing fees.
3. Project Approval Qualifications and Long Expansion Cycles. According to Jiangnan New Materials’ public disclosure in their prospectus, the processing fee for copper powder is approximately 8,400-10,400 yuan/ton. Currently, the copper powder market is highly concentrated with few participants. The processing of copper powder mainly involves four major processes: copper melting, ammonia evaporation, sintering, and powder screening. Core equipment includes melting tanks, crystallization tanks, drying and calcining machines, and screening machines. The domestic production rate of equipment has significantly increased, but qualification approvals and expansion cycles may exceed one year.
Real-time Report (November 28, 2025, 14:00:22): Jiangnan New Materials (73.90 yuan)
Note: Reprinted from publicly available information from institutions, not constituting investment advice.
