Taiwan's Two CCL Giants See Q2 Revenue Double as AI Server Supply Chain Expected to Remain Tight
0xBroomberg
Elite Material and TUC both posted record quarterly revenue with year-on-year gains above 110 %. Key AI-server materials remain undersupplied, and the pricing upcycle is expected to run into 2027 and beyond.
Revenue doubled — what are the actual numbers?
Elite Material (2383.TW) posted Q2 revenue of NT$47.3 bn (~US$1.5 bn), up 43 % quarter-on-quarter and 110 % year-on-year.
TUC (6274.TW) reported NT$14.3 bn in the same period, up 42 % QoQ and 111 % YoY.
This means → each company grew more in a single quarter than many tech firms manage in a full year. AI server demand is the primary driver.
What triggered the surge?
The main catalyst is Nvidia's GB300 server product ramping into mass production. Demand for CCL — copper-clad laminate, the core substrate in printed circuit boards that determines signal quality — surged in lockstep.
Downstream customers also pulled orders forward ahead of the traditional consumer-electronics peak season, amplifying the draw.
CCL makers have been pushing through price hikes since early 2026, with average increases in the double digits. Volume and price rose together.
Why is supply so tight?
Two critical raw materials — low-Dk glass fabric and HVLP copper foil (hyper-very-low-profile, a foil that cuts signal loss) — remain in shortage. Lead times for AI-related CCL have stretched to four to six months.
In plain terms = a customer placing an order today waits up to half a year for delivery.
CCL makers hold only one to two weeks of raw-material inventory on average — virtually no buffer. This means → customers are forced to lock in orders early, which ironically gives suppliers better order visibility.
Who is out in front?
Elite Material has secured orders from Nvidia and major US cloud providers and is currently the only supplier certified for M9-grade CCL.
This means → in the next-generation materials race, Elite Material holds a one-step lead.
TUC has entered the ASIC server supply chain; shipments of M8-and-above products are set to ramp.
Competitors include South Korea's Doosan, China's Shengyi Technology, and Japan's Panasonic, but industry sources say the two Taiwanese leaders are advancing fastest.
Where are overflow orders going?
Nan Ya Plastics leveraged its shorter lead times to win slots in next-generation AI server builds, with mass shipments expected from 2027.
Iteq and Ventec Electronics are also picking up overflow orders, steadily raising the share of mid-to-high-end products in their mix.
This reflects a supply gap so wide that the market leaders cannot fill it alone — second-tier makers are capturing meaningful incremental volume.
How long can this upcycle last?
The industry expects the pricing upcycle to extend into 2027 and potentially longer. The next-generation AI server platform, VR200, entering production ramp will sustain demand.
M9 and M10 materials are still in qualification testing; mass production is not expected until 2027–2028.
In plain terms = new materials are not ready, and current materials are already short — the supply crunch has no near-term end in sight. Whether this bottleneck eases before M9/M10 reach volume production is the key checkpoint for the durability of the cycle.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.