The 2026 semi-annual report disclosure season has concluded, and publicly listed firms across China's copper foil industry chain delivered impressive interim results. Driven by a confluence of demand from continued growth in ESS installations, rising NEV penetration, and accelerating AI computing infrastructure buildout, the industry has emerged from a two-year trough and entered an upward cycle of "rising volumes and prices." According to SMM statistics, net profit YoY growth rates for leading publicly listed copper foil firms in China generally reached several hundred-fold, with non-recurring gains and losses-excluded net profit showing explosive recovery. The industry currently exhibits a high-prosperity pattern of rising processing fees, capacity utilization rates exceeding 90%, and undersupply of high-end copper foil products, fully confirming the industry's cyclical turnaround.
I. Demand side: ESS and NEVs dominate growth, AI computing opens high-end space
This round of copper foil industry prosperity is led by structural demand upgrades. ESS and NEVs solidify the base for lithium battery copper foil, while AI computing buildout continues to expand demand for high-end PCB copper foil, forming a dual-engine growth pattern.
Downstream power battery demand remains steady with modest growth, while ESS batteries maintain rapid growth, directly driving a significant expansion in rigid demand for lithium battery copper foil. Nuode and Jiayuan Technology both noted in their semi-annual reports that end-use demand for renewable energy storage continued to recover, driving significant YoY growth in their copper foil product shipments. According to SMM estimates, global copper consumption in the ESS sector will reach 540,000 mt in 2026, up 80% YoY, providing strong growth support for the lithium battery copper foil industry.
AI computing infrastructure buildout is reshaping the supply-demand structure for high-end copper foil and has become a core variable in industry upgrading. SMM data shows that global new data center installations will grow 65% YoY to 54GW in 2026, with a CAGR of 28% from 2026 to 2030; corresponding annual incremental copper consumption from new data centers will grow 55% YoY to 770,000 mt, with a five-year CAGR of 21%. The large-scale iteration of AI servers has significantly boosted demand for high-end PCB copper foil such as HVLP, with industry capacity increasingly tilting toward high-end products, indirectly causing supply contraction in ordinary electronic circuit copper foil and ultimately tightening supply and demand across the full range of copper foil products.
II. Tight supply-demand pattern, processing fees continue to rise
The optimization of the industry's supply-demand pattern provides core support for rising processing fees. Following the earlier rationalization of inefficient capacity, the industry's disorderly expansion has ended, the pace of new capacity additions has slowed, and supply-side growth has tightened. Since H2 2025, copper foil processing fees have officially entered an upward channel, with the upward trend continuing and accelerating in H1 2026, showing month-by-month increases.
On the lithium battery side, based on SMM monthly supply-demand balance data for lithium battery copper foil, the industry shows a slight shortage under sustained rigid demand from downstream ESS and NEV sectors, providing a solid foundation for the continued recovery of lithium battery copper foil processing fees. In the electronic circuit segment, as industry capacity shifts toward high-end products, overall effective market supply has contracted, and processing fees for all product categories have upside room. According to an SMM survey, HVLP1 copper foil processing fees are currently in a high range of 52,000–70,000 yuan/mt, with the premium pricing power of high-end products continuing to stand out.
III. Corporate earnings fully delivered, with explosive growth in both revenue and profit
In H1 2026, five specialized core copper foil enterprises in China achieved overall revenue expansion, with revenue growth rates staying high and industry growth momentum fully released. Among them, Nuode led the industry with a 113.33% YoY revenue growth rate, followed by Jiayuan Technology and Defu Technology, with revenue up 89.57% and 73.54% YoY, respectively. By business structure, both the lithium battery copper foil and electronic circuit copper foil segments of each company achieved high growth.
The profit side showed explosive recovery, mainly driven by the low base effect of industry losses or marginal profits in the same period last year, coupled with substantive profitability improvement from better supply-demand conditions and product price increases in 2026, as copper foil enterprises all turned losses into profits. Among them, Jiayuan Technology posted net profit attributable to the parent of 382 million yuan, up 940% YoY, ranking among the top in the industry by profit scale; Zhongyi Technology led the five core enterprises in growth rate, with net profit attributable to the parent of 167 million yuan, up 987.97% YoY; Nuode successfully turned profitable, achieving net profit attributable to the parent of 103 million yuan, reversing the loss of 72.43 million yuan in the same period last year, fully confirming the substantive recovery in industry prosperity.
Deducted non-recurring net profit is a core indicator for observing the true profitability of a company's main business, and the earnings quality of each company showed clear divergence. Tongguan Copper Foil led the industry in earnings quality, with a deducted non-recurring net profit to net profit attributable to the parent ratio as high as 96.5%, meaning the company's profit was almost entirely derived from its main copper foil business, demonstrating extremely strong stability in main business operations.
IV. Capacity scale expanding steadily, with full production of high-end capacity empowering structural upgrades
Defu Technology has existing capacity of 195,000 mt/year, ranking first in China and among the top globally in the industry; Jiayuan Technology has existing capacity exceeding 155,000 mt/year and has set a clear expansion target of total capacity surpassing 190,000 mt in 2026, with a clear pace of capacity rollout. Nuode is expected to reach total capacity of 170,000 mt in 2026, with R&D focused on cutting-edge areas such as ultra-thin lithium battery copper foil, supporting materials for solid-state batteries, and high-end PCB copper foil for AI servers, continuously strengthening its ability to iterate high-end products.
Tongguan Copper Foil has existing capacity of 80,000 mt/year, of which 55,000 mt can be adapted for high-end copper foil production, with high-end capacity maintaining full production and full sales over the long term and outstanding product premium pricing power. Zhongyi Technology is expected to reach total capacity of 75,000 mt in 2026, with current capacity in a steady ramp-up stage and production and sales volumes continuing to rise. Overall, H1 2026 production and sales data across enterprises improved significantly, with industry-wide capacity utilization rate exceeding 90% and operational efficiency reaching a phase high.
V. Diversified enterprises recovering in tandem, with uneven pace of segment improvement
Beyond pure copper foil enterprises, multiple publicly listed diversified firms with copper foil operations also saw improved performance, with broad-based recovery across the sector and only a few enterprises still in the late stage of repair.
Zhongtian Technology delivered outstanding overall results, with H1 group net profit attributable to shareholders of 2.387 billion yuan, up 52.29% YoY, and all four main businesses growing, among which electronic copper foil revenue rose 63% YoY. Far East Smarter Energy reported group net profit attributable to shareholders of 205 million yuan, up 43.13% YoY, with revenue from new copper foil products surging 680.09% YoY as new-type high-end copper foil products entered a rapid volume ramp-up period.
Hangzhou Cable achieved explosive overall growth, with H1 group net profit attributable to shareholders of 393 million yuan, up 938.67% YoY, driven primarily by volume and price increases in the optical communications segment; although its copper foil segment has yet to turn profitable, losses have narrowed substantially, with a clear recovery trend. State-owned JCC has not separately disclosed revenue data, but its existing 100,000 mt capacity (65,000 mt lithium battery copper foil + 35,000 mt electronic circuit copper foil) ranks it in the industry's first tier by capacity scale, with significant resource and scale advantages.
VI. Industry summary and H2 outlook
Overall, the 2026 semi-annual reports comprehensively validated the logic of a copper foil industry cyclical turnaround, achieving full-dimensional repair across revenue, net profit, net profit excluding non-recurring items, and capacity utilization rate. With low-end capacity rationalization and high-end demand surging, the industry's competitive logic has been fundamentally restructured, shifting from past homogeneous cost competition to structural value competition led by technology, quality, and high-end capacity.
Looking ahead to H2, the three demand engines supporting this round of copper foil prosperity show no clear signs of weakening: the ESS installation peak season is approaching, the NEV sales peak season is arriving, and AI computing infrastructure investment continues to accelerate. High-end HVLP copper foil supply-demand is expected to remain tight in the near term, with the RC/TC midpoint likely to continue shifting upward; lithium battery copper foil profitability recovery is expected to continue under tight supply-demand balance. Overall, the industry-wide uptrend is clear, and three dimensions—sustainability of profit realization, strength of cash flow repair, and progress of high-end capacity commissioning—will serve as key threads for distinguishing the core competitiveness and growth potential of copper foil enterprises.
