Deep Market Analysis Report for Kinwong Electronics: Leading Position in Automotive PCBs and Challenges in AI Server Business

Based on the collected information, I will conduct a comprehensive market analysis for Kinwong Electronics, delving into its automotive PCB business, gross profit margin of AI server PCBs, and technical bottlenecks in its high-end breakthrough.

Kinwong Electronics has established a global leading position in the automotive PCB sector. According to data from CIC Consulting, based on 2024 annual revenue, the company is the world’s largest automotive electronics PCB supplier. Seven of the world’s top 10 Tier 1 automotive suppliers are its customers, and its PCB products have been widely used in automotive products of the world’s top 10 automotive groups[1]. The company’s PCB revenue in 2024 was US$1.7034 billion, ranking 10th among all PCB suppliers, 4th among PCB suppliers headquartered in mainland China, with a market share of 2.3%[1]. In the niche segment of automotive electronics PCBs, the company’s market share reaches 9%, ranking first globally[5].

The company’s PCB products deeply empower automotive intelligence and electrification, and have achieved mass production of lidar boards, 5th and 6th generation millimeter-wave radar boards, ADCU high-end HDI motherboards, and high-voltage resistant PCBs for 400V/800V electrical platforms[1]. With the continuous improvement of intelligent driving levels, the widespread deployment of core components such as millimeter-wave radars and domain controllers will continue to drive the growth of demand for high-layer PCBs and HDI PCBs. In terms of sales revenue, the global automotive electronics PCB industry’s market size grew from US$6.5 billion in 2020 to US$9.2 billion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 9.2%, and is expected to reach US$12.2 billion in 2030[1].

After 32 years of steady operation, the company has accumulated a large number of high-quality customers in various downstream sectors, forming an international strategic layout of cross-regional, differentiated, and sustainable supply[6]. Downstream customers such as automotive and server industries have extremely high requirements for supplier qualifications, with long certification cycles and high supply barriers. Once a stable supply relationship is established, customers generally do not easily change their supply systems, thus providing good certainty and stability. The company has established long-term strategic cooperation with leading customers in various industries worldwide, and continuously improves its proactive service capabilities for customers through various means such as continuously improving quality services, increasing R&D investment, and actively cooperating with customers in new product development and capacity expansion[6].

The company’s gross profit margin has shown a continuous downward trend. The company’s gross profit margins in 2023, 2024, and the nine months ended September 30, 2025 were 23.2%, 22.7%, and 21.6% respectively[1]. According to the profit forecast from Guohai Securities, the gross profit margin of the company’s PCB business will be 20.11%, 20.56%, and 21.28% in 2024-2026 respectively. Although profitability is expected to gradually improve due to product structure optimization, it remains at a relatively low level[2].

Although the company has made breakthroughs and achieved mass shipment of AI server-related products, the production scale of AI server PCBs is still in the ramp-up phase compared to traditional PCB products. The company made breakthroughs in the AI server sector in 2024, with some products achieving mass shipment, but the capacity utilization rate in emerging application fields such as high-speed FPC and ultra-high-layer PTFE has not yet reached the optimal state[4].

AI server PCBs have much higher requirements for materials, processes, and equipment than traditional PCB products. The company needs to use materials with multi-dimensional performance such as lower signal transmission loss and stable mechanical support, which have universal application scenarios and can complement emerging technologies (such as 3D packaging, Chiplet, etc.), with obvious “system-level advantages”[5]. The procurement costs of these high-end materials and equipment are relatively high, which dilutes the product gross profit margin.

The AI server PCB sector is highly competitive, with competitors such as Shenghong Technology and Shengyi Electronics having an earlier layout and faster development in this field. Shenghong Technology ranked first globally in AI/HPC sector revenue in Q1 2025, deeply participating in high-end AI server projects such as NVIDIA GB200, which drove the proportion of the company’s PCB revenue in the AI/HPC sector to surge from 6.6% in 2024 to 44.3% in Q1 2025[4]. Such fierce market competition puts pressure on Kinwong Electronics’ pricing power and gross profit margin.

The company actively promotes product technology upgrading and diversified application expansion, and has made significant progress in various core business sectors. In 2024, the company achieved mass shipment of 800G optical modules in the data center field, and has the mass production capacity of 1.6T optical modules[4]. However, the yield and large-scale production of these high-end products still take time, and their contribution to improving the gross profit margin is limited.

AI server PCBs need to use high-speed materials with lower loss, which have extremely high requirements for the control of dielectric constant (Dk) and dielectric loss factor (Df). Currently, the global high-speed material market is mainly dominated by Japanese and American manufacturers, and domestic substitution is still in progress. Although the company has achieved mass production of products such as multi-layer PTFE boards[4], it still faces challenges in large-scale commercial low-cost high-speed materials.

AI server PCBs are developing towards high-layer PCBs with more than 40 layers, which puts forward higher requirements for processes such as interlayer alignment accuracy, dielectric layer uniformity, and copper thickness distribution control[1]. Currently, only a few manufacturers worldwide have the stable mass production capacity of high-end PCB products, and the capacity is relatively tight[6]. Although Kinwong Electronics has the mass production capacity of high-layer PCBs with more than 40 layers, it still needs to make breakthroughs in yield improvement and cost control.

With the development of AI servers towards higher integration, the requirements for the order of HDI boards are continuously increasing. The company has achieved mass production of 6-order 22-layer HDI PCBs and 14-layer HDI PCBs using mSAP process[1], but compared with Taiwanese manufacturers (such as Unimicron, Ibiden, etc.), there is still a gap in the fields of higher-order HDI and Substrate-Like PCBs (SLP).

High-end consumer electronics and AI servers have increasing demand for any-layer interconnection, which requires more precise laser drilling and circuit processing technologies. The company has made major breakthroughs in technologies such as AR/VR AnyLayer FPC[2], but still faces challenges in process stability in large-scale mass production.

The packaging substrate market continues to iterate towards high-density and large-size directions, and the global scale is expected to reach US$24 billion in 2027[4]. FC-BGA substrates need to support high-density wiring, large-size, and high-layer interconnection, and the technical path is evolving towards glass substrates and co-packaged optics. Currently, the market is dominated by Taiwanese manufacturers, with the top five manufacturers such as Unimicron, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, and Ibiden accounting for more than 50% of the market share[4]. Mainland enterprises such as Shennan Circuits and Fastprint Electronics are accelerating their expansion into the high-end logic chip substrate field, but Kinwong Electronics’ layout in this field is relatively lagging.

SLP is a product between HDI and packaging substrates, mainly used in high-end smartphones and AI edge devices. Although the company has a layout in this field, there is a gap in technological maturity and mass production capacity compared with Taiwanese manufacturers in Apple’s supply chain.

Core equipment required for high-end PCB production, such as laser drilling machines, exposure machines, and electroplating lines, mainly relies on imports from Japan and Germany. The high procurement cost and long delivery cycle of such equipment restrict the rapid expansion of high-end production capacity.

AI server PCBs have extremely high requirements for signal integrity, power integrity, and thermal management, which require more advanced testing equipment and testing methods. Although the company continues to invest in technological R&D, it still needs to strengthen the construction of high-end testing capabilities compared with industry-leading enterprises.

Shenghong Technology accurately seized the opportunity of AI computing power, and its revenue in the AI/HPC sector ranked first globally in Q1 2025. The company deeply participated in high-end AI server projects such as NVIDIA GB200, and since the mass production and shipment in Q4 2024, it has driven the proportion of the company’s PCB revenue in the AI/HPC sector to surge from 6.6% in 2024 to 44.3% in Q1 2025[4]. In H1 2025, Shenghong Technology’s revenue increased by 86% year-on-year, and its net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 367% year-on-year, with significant improvements in gross profit margin and net profit margin, fully benefiting from the volume growth of AI servers and the high-end upgrade of product structure[4]. In contrast, although Kinwong Electronics has made breakthroughs in the AI server sector, the growth rate of its overall scale and profitability is relatively slow.

Wus Printed Circuit Co., Ltd. (WUS) takes communication boards as its core business, acquired Schweizer Electronic to lay out automotive boards, and expanded embedded advanced processes. WUS continues to promote its internationalization strategy and established WUS Thailand, and has developed into a leading enterprise in the PCB industry covering multiple high-end application markets with cross-regional supply capabilities[4]. Driven by AI and high-speed networks, WUS’s performance has grown rapidly, and it has deeper technical accumulation in the fields of high-end servers and communication PCBs.

In the fields of packaging substrates and high-order HDI, Taiwanese manufacturers (such as Unimicron, Ibiden, Nanya Circuit, etc.) still occupy a dominant position. These manufacturers have first-mover advantages in technological R&D, customer certification, and production capacity scale. Mainland enterprises are accelerating their catch-up, but the overall gap still exists. Kinwong Electronics needs to continue to increase efforts in R&D investment, technical talents, and capacity construction to narrow the gap with Taiwanese manufacturers.

The capital expenditure of global cloud manufacturers maintains relatively high growth, driven by innovation in AI servers and related fields, resulting in a shortage of high-speed materials and high-end HDI PCB products[6]. The company is expected to fully benefit from the market opportunities brought by AI infrastructure construction.

With the accelerated implementation of high-level intelligent driving and the continuous increase in the penetration rate of AI applications in vehicles, the company’s high-end products in intelligent driving and intelligent cockpits have a high growth rate, and the share of in-vehicle HDI and high-layer products in customers continues to increase[6].

The capacity laid out by the company in Jishui Base (Jiangxi), Xinfeng Base (Jiangxi), and Jinwan Base (Zhuhai) is being released in an orderly manner, and it is expected that the automotive business will still have broad growth space in the future[6]. The Zhuhai Jinwan expansion project (with an investment of RMB 5 billion, adding an annual HDI production capacity of 800,000 square meters) will provide capacity support for the company’s high-end product development[4].

Strengthen cooperation with domestic high-speed material manufacturers, promote the R&D and application of low-cost high-speed materials, and reduce raw material costs.

Continue to increase R&D investment and achieve breakthroughs in advanced processes such as AnyLayer HDI, embedded copper block heat dissipation, and mixed dielectric lamination.

Actively lay out the fields of packaging substrates such as FC-BGA and FC-CSP, and enhance the company’s market competitiveness in the high-end chip carrier board field.

Accelerate the construction of the Thailand production base, build a more resilient global supply chain, and improve the supporting capabilities for international customers.

Global economic uncertainties may affect downstream terminal demand and put pressure on the company’s performance.

Fluctuations in the prices of raw materials such as copper and resin may affect the company’s profitability.

The PCB industry is highly competitive, and technological progress of competitors may weaken the company’s competitive advantages.

A slowdown in the process of automotive intelligence may affect the growth of the company’s automotive PCB business.

Lower-than-expected growth in demand for AI servers may affect the volume growth of the company’s high-end products.

[1] Eastmoney - Kinwong Electronics HKEX Prospectus (https://caifuhao.eastmoney.com/news/20260102143703486229800)
[2] Guohai Securities - In-Depth Research Report on Kinwong Electronics (https://aigc.idigital.com.cn/djyanbao/【国海证券】景旺电子（603228）：汽车PCB龙头，数通业务打造第二成长曲线-2025-01-18.pdf)
[3] Eastmoney - Individual Stock Data of Kinwong Electronics (https://data.eastmoney.com/stockdata/603228.html)
[4] Soochow Securities - In-Depth Report on Electronic Industry: AI-Driven Comprehensive Upgrade of PCBs (https://pdf.dfcfw.com/pdf/H3_AP202509281752218825_1.pdf)
[5] Sina Finance - Related News on Kinwong Electronics (https://k.sinaimg.cn/n/sinakd20116/740/w889h651/20260108/e5d0-e765d2a83e9e83abbcc1039fe9d50025.png/w700d1q75cms.jpg)
[6] 2024 Annual Report of Shenzhen Kinwong Electronics Co., Ltd. (http://static.cninfo.com.cn/finalpage/2025-04-29/1223377812.PDF)
[7] 2025 Semi-Annual Report of Shenzhen Kinwong Electronics Co., Ltd. (http://static.cninfo.com.cn/finalpage/2025-08-30/1224623843.PDF)