Imported Traders Intend to Lower Quotation Coefficients to Prevent Tariff Risks [SMM Secondary Copper Daily Review]

Taiwan AI server PCB maker Gold Circuit Electronics announced on September 29 that Amazon will join a private placement as a strategic investor, subscribing 1,856,308 new shares at NT$856 per share, or about NT$1.59 billion, with the shares locked up for three years. The subscription price equals 80 percent of the NT$1,070 reference price. GCE already supplies main boards for AWS Trainium AI servers, and Trainium 3 is expected to enter mass production in the third quarter of 2026, with AWS-related shipments ramping from that quarter. The same day, the board approved NT$7.9 billion for a new plant, comprising about NT$3.8 billion for land and NT$4.1 billion for buildings and equipment, to be deployed from the fourth quarter of 2026 and funded by unsecured convertible bonds. GCE is expanding in Taiwan, Suzhou, Changshu and Thailand, has raised its 2026 capital expenditure to NT$19 billion, and says high-end AI board capacity still cannot fully meet customer demand; the cloud provider's equity stake should help secure new plant capacity ahead of demand.

According to Cailian Press, Meta classified its AI data centers as experimental to obtain tax incentives, and research shows that data center tax incentives helped Meta save about $4 billion.

Volkswagen Group announced on September 28 that its battery subsidiary PowerCo and Gotion High-Tech plan to establish three joint ventures in Spain, Slovakia and Morocco, with total investment of about EUR 3.222 billion (EUR 1.598 billion from the Gotion side and EUR 1.624 billion from the PowerCo side). Valencia, Spain will host a 29.1 GWh-per-year cell project costing about EUR 2.262 billion, held 51 percent by PowerCo with the Gotion side injecting about EUR 1.1 billion for 49 percent. The Surany, Slovakia plant becomes an 8.4 GWh-per-year joint venture with about EUR 480 million of investment, 51 percent Gotion-owned, serving EV and battery storage applications. Kenitra, Morocco will add a plant producing 100,000 tonnes per year of LFP cathode material for about EUR 480 million, majority-owned by Gotion. LFP cells use copper foil as the anode current collector, so the combined 37.5 GWh of planned capacity will add to European local copper foil demand once commissioned.