SMM, April 22: The global new energy and AI sectors remain highly prosperous, while traditional consumer electronics have entered a seasonal peak, jointly driving a broad recovery in demand for copper foil and high-speed connectivity products. In March 2026, China’s copper foil exports reached a record single-month high. The power and ESS sectors continued to thrive with steady order growth; AI-related orders remained strong, leading to optimistic copper foil demand across all specifications. Consequently, copper foil enterprise operating rates rose both year-over-year (YoY) and month-over-month (MoM) in March. Supported by these fundamentals, copper cable high-speed connectivity—key for AI computing infrastructure—saw improved demand expectations, while capital sentiment boosted related stocks, which rose 2. 29% on April 22. Notably, Far East Holdings hit its daily limit, and Hengtong Optic-Electric, ZTT, Shenlan Technology, Changxin Bochuang, Zhaolonginterconnect, and Kingsinno led gains. News Highlights: - The State Council issued guidelines to advance computing power layout and edge computing development, improve intelligent computing cloud services, deepen industrial internet innovation, promote data cooperation consortia, and accelerate urban information and building information modeling platforms. - Zhang Yunming, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, announced China’s intelligent computing power scale reached 1882 EFLOPS by end of March 2026. Efforts continue to support computing power infrastructure, including SME enablement, computing-electricity coordination, policy and standards development, and network transmission improvements via over 70 computing power corridors and millisecond computing initiatives. - The National Advanced Computing Industry Innovation Center Qingdao Base was launched in Laoshan District, Qingdao. As a national-level industrial innovation platform since 2018, the center aims to drive breakthroughs in advanced computing technology and foster globally competitive industrial clusters. The new base, co-built by Sugon, will integrate R&D, commercialization, and industrial incubation to boost regional smart industry upgrading and digital economy growth in Qingdao and Shandong Province. - Yuandong Holdings reported Q1 2026 net profit of RMB 96. 63 million, up 110. 36% YoY, with total operating revenue rising 9. 26% YoY to RMB 5. 325 billion. - Rickda announced small-batch delivery of 400G/800G products and is actively ramping capacity. As an optical, electrical, microwave, high-speed data, and fluid connection supplier, it offers AI-related products including power supply, high-speed transmission, and liquid cooling. Its high-speed copper cable connector products, led by Suzhou Richuang Connection Technology, include AEC, DAC, ACC, high-speed board-to-board, and I/O connectors, with higher-speed products progressing as planned. - Tongguan Copper Foil highlighted its high-frequency, high-speed PCB copper foil applications in 5G communication, high-power servers, data centers, switches, and network connectors. - Xinhongye is conducting dedicated technical research in high-speed copper cable connections for intelligent computing, tracking industry trends and pursuing fiber optic-related deployments aligned with technological evolution and strategic planning, capitalizing on parallel optical and copper development in AI computing. Copper Foil and Connectivity Market Trends: In March 2026, Chinese copper foil enterprises’ operating rates increased YoY and MoM, nearing 90%, supported by recovering downstream demand post-Chinese New Year. Lithium battery and electronic circuit copper foil production and sales climbed, driven by steady order growth in power and ESS sectors, peak season emergence in consumer electronics, and robust AI-related orders spanning all copper foil specifications. According to customs data, China’s copper foil imports in March 2026 totaled 8, 220. 04 mt (+11. 88% YoY, +27. 59% MoM), while exports hit 6, 663. 48 mt (+56. 19% YoY, +38. 23% MoM), with exports reaching a monthly record high. This reflects the continued prosperity of global new energy and AI industries alongside seasonal consumer peak demand. Industry Insights: - Huaxi Securities notes persistent geopolitical risks affect short-term markets but identifies AI as a key near-term investment theme, emphasizing domestic computing power and leasing amid supply-demand imbalances, and the optical module and fiber optic cable segments with solid earnings visibility.

Rising AI service costs may drive downstream consolidation and efficiency gains. - Changjiang Securities highlights geopolitical conflict–accelerated global supply-chain restructuring, enhancing China's status as a crucial manufacturing hub. It recommends focusing on AI infrastructure (computing power, storage, power equipment), energy revolution sectors (lithium batteries, hydrogen, commodities), and cyclically depressed sectors (chemicals, steel, condiments). The CSI A500 Index offers diversified exposure to these areas. - Huatai Securities projects strong upstream core material demand for optical modules amid growing 800G/1. 6T market and imminent 3. 2T era, focusing on InP substrates (undersupplied raw materials for optical chips) and thin-film lithium niobate modulators with low power consumption and high bandwidth, expected to enter 3. 2T pluggable solutions adoption. - Shanxi Securities reports NVIDIA’s $2 billion strategic investment in Marvell to expand the NVLINKFusion ecosystem, integrating customized XPUs and compatible expansion networks with NVIDIA’s CPUs, NICs, DPUs, and switches. Marvell, a top ASIC custom service provider and optical module DSP/EIC supplier, is advancing CPO deployment. NVIDIA’s complete copper-connected rack-scale solutions unveiled at GTC 2026 position CPO as vital in Feynman-generation Scaleup technology, with Marvell’s involvement expected to grow the copper connectivity market. - Soochow Securities reviews Fujida, a leading Chinese RF connector firm backed by AVIC Optronics, expanding from general RF connectors into high-end RF cables (including aerospace), advanced ceramics, and RF links. In 2025, Fujida achieved RMB 881 million revenue (+15. 5% YoY) and RMB 78 million net profit (+52. 0% YoY). Core tracks include defense informatization, civil aerospace satellites, semiconductor equipment, electronic measurement instruments, and high-speed copper/quantum communication cables—aiding data center and quantum tech expansion with products achieving international leadership and initial commercial supply. Summary: March 2026 saw strong recovery and record export performance in China’s copper foil market, driven by flourishing AI and new energy sectors and seasonal electronics demand. Copper cable high-speed connectivity continues to gain traction as AI infrastructure expands. Key industry players enhance production capabilities and develop advanced materials and connector technologies. Policy support from the State Council and infrastructure investments underpin computing power and edge computing growth, boosting national innovation centers. Strategic investments and partnerships, such as NVIDIA-Marvell, and advances in core raw materials and components, signal robust growth potential across computing power and optical industries. Despite geopolitical uncertainties, AI and energy transformation remain pivotal investment themes, with supply-demand dynamics encouraging industry consolidation and efficiency improvements.