Soochow Securities expects Fastprint’s net profit attributable to shareholders to rise from 519 million yuan to 2.092 billion yuan over 2026–2028, driven by expanding demand for high-end PCBs and higher IC substrate volumes. Customer qualification and capacity ramp-up for high-end substrates are key conditions for translating growth into profit.
Original source：风口研报First published on Unhidea：Original source date：
Key takeaway
Soochow Securities is positive on Fastprint’s product portfolio spanning both high-end PCBs and IC substrates. Whether expected profit growth materializes hinges on high-end substrate qualification and capacity ramp-up keeping pace with demand.
Why is profit expected to grow faster than revenue?
In its initiation of coverage on Fastprint, Soochow Securities forecasts revenue of 10.185 billion yuan in 2026, up 41.56% year on year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 519 million yuan, up 284.93%. Profit growth far exceeds revenue growth partly because of the low base of just 135 million yuan in attributable net profit in 2025, and partly because the firm expects business volumes and profitability to increase.
That thesis extends into the following two years: the firm expects revenue to grow 31.54% and 25.61% in 2027 and 2028, respectively, with attributable net profit rising to 1.425 billion yuan and 2.092 billion yuan. The key to understanding these forecasts is whether the company can continue to improve profitability as revenue expands.
How does AI demand connect to the company’s products?
The report cites Prismark’s forecast that the global PCB market will grow at an annual compound rate of approximately 7.7% over 2025–2030, with boards of 18 layers or more and HDI boards growing at 21.7% and 9.2%, respectively. AI infrastructure’s demand for high-performance, high-layer-count and high-precision products gives high-end categories room to grow faster than the overall market.
Fastprint’s point of connection is its product portfolio: the company covers advanced HDI and high-speed optical module boards, and is one of the few A-share-listed manufacturers with a presence in both CSP and FCBGA. On that basis, Soochow Securities is positive on its ability to capture demand from AI computing infrastructure, advanced packaging and domestic substitution, emphasizing the scarcity of its high-end product positioning.
Why do substrates matter, and what constrains profit realization?
IC substrates connect chips to conventional PCBs, and the evolution of advanced packaging toward 2.5D/3D and Chiplets is driving related demand. Forecasts cited in the report show that the market for ultra-high-density substrates used in servers and storage will grow from 2.235 billion US dollars in 2024 to 7.91 billion US dollars in 2029, a compound annual growth rate of 28.8%. This also underpins Soochow Securities’ view of IC substrates as a long-term growth moat.
The demand recovery already varies by category: the report says BT substrates have performed well since 2025, while ABF substrates have gradually recovered. For Fastprint, industry capacity expansion must still be followed by customer qualification and capacity ramp-up. The report explicitly identifies slower-than-expected progress on both fronts for high-end substrates such as FCBGA as a risk that directly constrains the pace of volume growth and profitability improvement.
Valuation also depends heavily on subsequent profit growth: at the report’s current share price and on the latest diluted basis, forecast price-to-earnings ratios for 2026–2028 are approximately 112, 41 and 28 times, respectively. The declining multiples correspond to rapidly rising forecast profits, making customer onboarding and mass-production progress especially important.
