KB LAMINATES (01888) surged over 7%, rising 7.52% to HK$12.44 at the time of publication, with trading volume reaching HK$379 million.
According to market sources, Cathay Haitong Securities noted that KB LAMINATES is one of the leading companies in the copper clad laminate industry. The company has built differentiated competitive barriers through integrated upstream material layout, with synchronized upgrades in electronic cloth, copper foil, and copper clad laminates. The supply-demand dynamics and new pricing trends for traditional copper clad laminates remain optimistic. Product upgrades and copper clad laminate price increases are expected to contribute significant growth momentum to the company's performance.
The firm believes that historically, during upward cycles of copper prices and glass fiber cloth, the pricing cycles for traditional copper clad laminates have also been relatively optimistic. The industry is attempting a new round of price increases in the second half of 2025. From a supply-demand perspective, overall demand in the copper clad laminate industry is expected to show strong growth alongside improving AI demand. Major companies' expansion plans are primarily focused on high-end boards, with some mid-tier industry capacity even undergoing high-end conversion. Therefore, the supply-demand dynamics for traditional mid-tier copper clad laminates are also quite favorable.
On August 15 this year, KB LAMINATES issued a price increase notice, announcing that due to significant increases in copper, glass cloth, and chemical raw material prices, and considering cost pressures, effective immediately, CEM-1/22F/V0/HB prices would increase by 10 yuan per sheet, and FR-4 prices would increase by 10 yuan per sheet, representing approximately an 8% price increase.
CITIC Securities previously indicated that the underlying logic of earlier price increases was more about corrective pricing by copper clad laminate manufacturers under long-term price/profit pressure. As leading copper clad laminate manufacturers' net profit margins improved to approximately 10% in Q2 2025, the firm believes the industry's pricing logic is gradually shifting toward profit potential release driven by improving industry fundamentals.