Hu Shi Electronics submits application for high-end PCB, injecting new momentum into the Hong Kong stock technology sector

This leading printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer has applied for a secondary listing in Hong Kong, focusing on high-end application markets such as artificial intelligence servers and smart vehicles, driving strong revenue growth.

Key Points:

• Hu Shi Electronics has submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, planning a secondary listing after Shenzhen. Just a week ago, its peer Dongxing Securities also submitted a listing application.
• Benefiting from its focus on the high-end PCB market, Hu Shi Electronics' revenue grew by 57% year-on-year in the first half of this year, with profits rising by 49%, while maintaining a competitive high gross margin.

Yang Ge

The competition for Hong Kong's "first stock of printed circuit boards" is coming to the forefront. PCBs are widely used in consumer electronics, smart vehicles, and high-end servers used in artificial intelligence computing, making them essential components of various core electronic devices.

Just a week after a major competitor submitted an IPO application in Hong Kong, Hu Shi Electronics Co., Ltd. (002463.SZ) also submitted its listing application for Hong Kong. Hu Shi Electronics and its competitor Dongxing Securities (002384.SZ) both belong to the printed circuit board industry and are listed on Shenzhen A-shares. Both companies are following the trend of mainland Chinese A-share listed companies in recent years, seeking to expand their financing sources through the more internationalized Hong Kong capital market.

However, the similarities between the two end there. Hu Shi Electronics has a clear development direction aimed at the future, focusing on high-end PCB products applied in smart vehicles and artificial intelligence-related scenarios. In contrast, Dongxing Securities primarily roots itself in the relatively mature consumer electronics market, providing PCB products for smartphones and personal computers. Additionally, since its establishment in 1992, Hu Shi Electronics has steadily expanded through organic growth, while Dongxing Securities initially engaged in sheet metal business, with its scale expansion mainly relying on mergers and acquisitions.

Based on the above differences, Hu Shi Electronics' core PCB business growth rate significantly outpaces that of Dongxing Securities. Last week, we conducted a detailed analysis of Dongxing Securities' listing application, so this week we will focus on Hu Shi Electronics, which has just submitted its listing application.

The company initially established itself in Kunshan, about an hour's drive from Shanghai, known for its concentration of Taiwanese electronic and electronic component manufacturing enterprises. Hu Shi Electronics first set up two production bases in Kunshan and built a third factory in Huangshi, Hubei Province in 2014.

The company currently has five production bases, with the most attention on two new bases—the production project located in Jintan, Jiangsu Province, and the company's latest production base in Thailand. The Jintan project was established in 2017 as a joint venture between Hu Shi Electronics and German Schweizer Electronic (SCE.DE), focusing on producing PCB products for smart vehicles. The related equity has gradually been acquired by Hu Shi Electronics, although Schweizer Electronic may still retain a small stake The production base located in Thailand is the latest production site established by Hu Shi Electronics, founded in 2022 and officially put into production in 2024, with a registered capital of 6.49 billion Thai Baht (approximately 203 million USD). This base focuses on the company's most advanced products, primarily producing printed circuit boards (PCBs) for high-speed network switches and routers, artificial intelligence (AI) servers, as well as PCB products for smart vehicles. This facility is also part of the recent global capacity diversification efforts promoted by Chinese manufacturing enterprises, aimed at hedging against the risks posed by the increasingly stringent trade protection and restrictions on Chinese manufactured products from the United States and other countries.

Hu Shi Electronics stated that the company began gradually exiting the consumer electronics PCB market as early as 2007, simultaneously shifting its strategic focus to areas with lower competition and higher growth potential, including smart vehicles and data communication. In its listing documents, the company cited third-party market data revealing that as of the end of June this year, Hu Shi Electronics has become the largest PCB supplier for data centers globally, with a market share of 10.3%. Additionally, the company is also a leader in the high-end HDI PCB market for L2 level and above autonomous driving "vehicle domain control controllers," with a market share of 15.2%.

Rapid Growth

The aforementioned high-growth areas have brought impressive performance growth to Hu Shi Electronics, forming a stark contrast with Dongxing Precision and other major peers involved in the mature consumer electronics market. In the first half of 2025, Hu Shi Electronics' revenue surged by 57% year-on-year, rising from 5.42 billion yuan in the same period last year to 8.49 billion yuan (approximately 1.2 billion USD); this strong performance continues the company's high growth trend of 49% for the entire year of 2024.

From the revenue structure, data communication PCBs are undoubtedly the company's largest growth engine. This segment's revenue grew by 71% year-on-year in the first half of 2025, reaching 6.53 billion yuan, accounting for more than three-quarters of the company's total revenue. Furthermore, the smart vehicle PCB business experienced relatively slower revenue growth during the period but still maintained a robust growth of 23%, rising to 1.42 billion yuan, accounting for approximately 16.7% of total revenue.

The company pointed out that high-end PCB products with 22 layers or more currently account for more than half of its total revenue, reaching 54% in the first half of this year, reflecting the continuous upgrade of the company's product structure towards high technology and high added value.

Focusing on the high-end market has allowed Hu Shi Electronics to maintain an enviable gross margin level among its peers. The company's gross margin has continued to rise over the past three years, increasing from 27.9% in 2022 to 32.3% in the first half of this year. In comparison, American manufacturer Flex (FLEX.US) had a gross margin of only 8.9% over the past 12 months; Dongxing Precision had 14.3%; another domestic peer, Shenzhen South Circuit (002916.SZ), had 25%; only Shenghong Technology (300476.SZ) had a gross margin of 31.6%, slightly higher than Hu Shi Electronics From a valuation perspective, the forecasted price-to-earnings ratios of several major peers are actually very close. Hu Shi Electronics' shares listed in Shenzhen have risen about 80% this year, with a corresponding forecasted price-to-earnings ratio of about 18 times, slightly higher than Dongshan Precision's and Shenghong Technology's approximately 17 times, and also slightly higher than Flex's 16 times; while Shenzhen South Circuit is significantly higher at 28 times.

Hu Shi Electronics' earnings performance is also impressive. The company's net profit for the first half of 2025 is expected to grow by 49% year-on-year, rising from 1.14 billion yuan in the same period last year to 1.68 billion yuan. At the same time, the company also has strong cash generation capabilities, with cash reserves increasing from 1.54 billion yuan to 2.74 billion yuan during the period. Therefore, from a financial standpoint, the company does not urgently need to raise cash through a Hong Kong IPO in the short term; however, the funds raised could still be used to expand production capacity in Thailand and to establish other production bases outside of China