According to industry sources, NVIDIA has confirmed that its next-generation product, Rubin, will use M9 materials. The Rubin series, set to launch in the second half of next year, will feature M9 CCL in the PCB for both CPX and midplane components. Due to the extreme shortage of Q cloth (quartz cloth/third-generation cloth), NVIDIA is evaluating whether to use M9 in compute and switch tray components, with a decision on the switch tray expected by the end of November. The Rubin Ultra# is confirmed to use orthogonal backplanes instead of copper cables, utilizing M9 materials to combine three 26-layer boards into 78 layers. Just for CPX, midplane, and orthogonal backplane, the market potential is nearly 100 billion.
China International Capital Corporation (CICC) released a report stating that Rubin CPX is a GPU specifically designed by NVIDIA (NVDA) for processing ultra-long context AI inference tasks, featuring an innovative decoupled inference architecture. The Rubin CPX introduces significant changes at the hardware level, employing a wireless cable architecture for connectors/PCB and adding the Paladin B2B connector connecting to the PCB midplane in the chassis. Innovations in PCB, connectors, and thermal management are expected to substantially expand the hardware market. CICC projects that NVIDIA's AI PCB market could reach $6.96 billion in 2027, a 142% increase from 2026.
Huajin Securities noted that AI is driving new growth momentum for the PCB industry, with ongoing improvements in industry conditions. According to data from Sullivan Research, the global PCB market is projected to grow from $62 billion in 2020 to $75 billion by 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.9% from 2020 to 2024. The PCB value of AI servers significantly exceeds that of traditional servers, leading to a substantial increase in demand for high-performance PCBs. From a materials perspective, low dielectric constant and low loss factor materials are most suitable, with Q cloth outperforming second-generation cloth, possibly disrupting the original fiberglass raw material supply chain.
Institutions strongly recommend M9 and its upstream and downstream related PCB manufacturers. KB Laminates (01888) reported a revenue of HKD 9.588 billion for the first half of this year, reflecting an 11% year-on-year increase; net profit rose by 28% to HKD 933 million. Furthermore, a recent wave of price increases for copper-clad laminates saw KB Laminates, WilliBond, and Hongruixing increase prices by HKD 5-10 per sheet on August 15. KGP Securities indicated that in the second half of 2025, the company's copper-clad laminate prices are set to rise first, driven by strong PCB demand, which may support price rigidity, leading to favorable performance in the second half of the year. The ramp-up of high-end CCL and material production capacity is expected in 2026, with AI options likely entering their payoff period, driving up valuation centers that may concentrate their contributions in the financial reports of 2027.
KINGBOARD HLDG (00148) is laying out a full industry chain across upstream materials and downstream PCBs. The group is establishing a research and development center for copper-clad panels equipped with advanced equipment and has successfully developed various high-frequency, high-speed products applicable for GPU motherboards in AI servers. KINGBOARD HLDG reported interim results, with revenue at around HKD 21.608 billion, up 6% year-on-year and net profit at approximately HKD 2.582 billion, up 71% year-on-year. Chairman Zhang Guorong stated that rapid AI development is driving strong demand for emerging electronic products revolving around AI concepts, significantly boosting demand for the group's copper-clad panels and printed circuit boards. He also mentioned plans to set up an AI circuit board production line in Kaiping, Guangdong, with an investment of around RMB 800 to 1,000 million, noting that related orders are saturated, and operations in the first half of next year are expected to be fully loaded, expressing an optimistic outlook.
Comments