AI computing power "snatching goods," electronic cloth's fourth price increase within the year

Does the supply and demand gap for electronic fabric supply and demand continue to be affected by AI infrastructure until 2026?

【Global Network Finance Comprehensive Report】The market for electronic-grade glass fiber fabric (referred to as “electronic fabric”) has experienced its fourth price adjustment of the year. It is reported that several companies, including China Jushi and Henan Guangyuan New Materials, finalized their latest price adjustment plans at the end of March, with official factory price increases starting April 1. Taking the mainstream model 7628 as an example, Henan Guangyuan New Materials’ factory price on April 1 reached 6.5 yuan per meter, an overall increase of 0.5 yuan per meter from March; the international composite material’s factory price for the same model also jumped from 5.68 yuan per meter in March to 6.2 yuan per meter. The current round of price increases ranges from 9% to 10%, maintaining a tight “monthly adjustment” rhythm since the beginning of the year.

Behind this wave of price increases are changes in the supply and demand landscape. The explosive growth in AI computing power demand is the core driver of the price hikes. Since last year, demand for AI-related hardware equipment has surged, directly occupying part of the electronic fabric production capacity. As a key substrate for copper-clad laminates (CCL), electronic fabric, together with copper foil and resin, forms the “skeleton” of printed circuit boards (PCBs). With the accelerated deployment of high-end servers, switches, and other AI infrastructure, downstream demand for high-frequency, high-speed copper-clad laminates has rapidly expanded. This strong growth momentum has led to a significant increase in upstream demand for high-end electronic fabric. On the supply side, expanding capacity for high-end electronic fabric is not an overnight process, and the structurally tight market makes rising prices for electronic fabric inevitable.

Short-term price fluctuations are driven by volatility in raw materials. Over the past month, prices of chemical raw materials like resins have increased. Since resin is one of the three main raw materials for copper-clad laminates, rising costs directly add to the overall pressure on manufacturers, which in turn accelerates the market’s electronic fabric price increases.

Oriental IC

From the perspective of segmented product supply and demand, the market shows clear differentiation. The sales manager of Henan Guangyuan New Materials directly states that current capacity is limited, and products are in a state of supply shortage, with frequent customer order rushes. The shortage of the conventional thick model 7628 electronic fabric is expected to continue until May; the ultra-thin model 1080 has almost no new capacity added by the industry, and it is highly likely to remain out of stock throughout the year; as for model 2116, its future price trend heavily depends on the production progress of China Jushi’s new production line. If capacity release falls short of expectations, prices will remain high.

Financial data from leading companies also confirm the industry’s high prosperity. In 2025, China Jushi’s glass fiber roving and electronic fabric sales both hit record highs, surpassing 3.2 million tons and 1 billion meters respectively, achieving simultaneous volume and price growth. Taishan Fiberglass, a subsidiary of Sinoma Technology, also saw significant performance growth. Its special fiber fabric for AI is currently out of stock, and its high-margin characteristics have become a new profit growth point for the company. Although the industry has sufficient stock of weaving machines, the fields of ultra-thin and extremely thin fabrics still rely entirely on imported equipment. The technological bottlenecks of domestic equipment limit the rapid expansion of high-end capacity.

Analysts say that this round of electronic fabric price increases is not merely a cyclical rebound but a structural boom driven by AI computing infrastructure. In the short term, rising resin costs and downstream inventory replenishment resonate to support strong price momentum; in the medium to long term, due to the extremely high precision requirements of ultra-thin electronic fabrics for weaving machines, domestic equipment replacement still requires time, significantly raising barriers to high-end capacity expansion. Against the backdrop of AI server PCBs evolving toward multi-layer and ultra-low loss, the supply and demand gap for special fiber fabrics is expected to persist through 2026. Leading companies with technological reserves and first-mover capacity will enjoy sustained performance realization, and industry concentration is likely to further shift toward top players. (Wen Xin)