First Read China PCB Sector Our initial read on potential Kyber backplane delay and sector updates

Research evidence excerpt

First Read China PCB Sector Our initial read on potential Kyber backplane delay and sector updates

Global Research

7 July 2026ab

First Read

EquitiesChina PCB Sector

Our initial read on potential Kyber backplane China

delay and sector updates Communications Technology

Jimmy Yu

Analyst

jimmy.yu@ubs.com

Kyber orthogonal backplane delay in-line with our expectation +86-21-3866 8880

Recent press noted NVDA Kyber rack architecture is facing delays to 2028 due to supply Edward Liu

chain challenges on PCB backplane. We view this timeline as in-line with our expectation Analyst

based on our early industry study from upstream CCL vendors back in May, suggesting edward.liu@ubs.com

potential delays of orthogonal backplane to Feynman in 2028. This was corroborated by +852-3712 3981

Victory Giant mentioned in our H-share Corp Day (link) that there are currently 10+ David Chow

material/vendor combinations being considered including different layer count designs. Associate Analyst

We see potential challenges are: 1) M9+Q-glass' processing difficulties, inadequate david.chow@ubs.com

supply and higher costs vs. other possible solutions (e.g. with low-dk2); we believe this +852-3712 3512

option is on hold for the Kyber backplane despite multiple rounds of trials; 2) PTFE’s

unexpected emergence as an optimal alternative due to its outstanding performance

and improving yield, despite time required for supply chain readiness with further testing

and; 3) suboptimal yields on the PCB side as both Q-glass and PTFE materials demand

much higher manufacturing capability on a 100+ layer form factor. We think the impact

on PCB companies earnings in 2026/27E could be limited as Kyber was originally

expected in late 2027 on Rubin Ultra with relatively small volume, and despite a slightly