[News] China’s PCB Makers Post Record-High Investment on AI Demand; Victory Giant Lifts 1Q26 Capex Nearly 5× YoY

China’s PCB makers are ramping up investment. According to South China Morning Post, manufacturers are embarking on a capacity expansion drive to meet AI-related demand, with capital expenditure expected to reach a record high. The report notes that more than 20 Chinese PCB companies, including Victory Giant Technology, WUS Printed Circuit, Shennan Circuits, and Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing, unveiled aggressive capacity expansion plans in the first half of 2026.

As the report notes, Victory Giant raised first-quarter capital expenditure to RMB 3.6 billion (US$530 million), up from RMB 730.1 million a year earlier. According to ifeng.com, as of 2026, the company’s advanced mSAP (Modified Semi-Additive Process) production lines have entered stable volume production, primarily supporting PCB orders for 1.6T high-speed optical modules. The company is also advancing the commercialization of CoWoP-related technologies while continuing to ramp newly added high-end capacity. In April 2026, it was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, completing its dual A-share and H-share listing.

The investment push extends beyond Victory Giant. As South China Morning Post notes, WUS raised first-quarter capital expenditure to RMB 1.5 billion, more than doubling from RMB 658.1 million a year earlier. The company is also making progress on its expansion projects. According to Securities Times, WUS said its Thailand production base has entered full-scale operations. The company’s RMB 4.3 billion high-end PCB expansion project for AI chip applications in China is scheduled to begin trial production in the second half of 2026, with capacity to be ramped up gradually thereafter.

Shennan Circuits is pursuing a similar strategy. As South China Morning Post notes, the company said in June it plans to raise up to RMB 4.88 billion through a private placement, with most of the proceeds earmarked for a RMB 4.54 billion AI computing circuit project in Wuxi.

AI Reshapes the PCB Industry Landscape

Analysts cited by South China Morning Post say computing power demand has become the PCB industry’s primary structural growth driver, accelerating the shift toward high-layer, high-density, high-speed, and low-loss products. As noted by 21jingji, AI servers place significantly higher demands on PCBs than traditional servers. Conventional server PCBs typically have 14 to 24 layers, while AI server PCBs feature 20 to 30 layers, or even more. The higher layer count requires more complex interconnect structures, improved signal integrity, and more stringent thermal management.

Meanwhile, as noted by Securities Times, the expansion wave is also reshaping the industry’s broader competitive landscape. As leading companies accelerate the buildout of their technological moats, the rising barriers to high-end transformation are increasingly filtering out small and medium-sized enterprises.

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(Photo credit: WUS)