Lead: The upstream investment logic of a trillion-level "industry leader".
The optical transceiver industry chain is witnessing a phenomenon of "industry leaders" acquiring other "industry leaders".
Recently, while disclosing its 2026 semi-annual report, Pengding Holdings (002938.SZ), the global PCB (Printed Circuit Board) leader, revealed Zhongji Innolight, the optical transceiver leader, among its top ten shareholders: Zhongji Innolight (Shanghai) Investment Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Innolight Investment"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zhongji Innolight, has now become the fourth largest shareholder of the PCB industry leader through a 2 billion RMB transaction.
Shortly after, on the evening of August 13, Zhongji Innolight announced the acquisition of 31.3725 million shares of Jones Tech (300684.SZ), the global "leader" in high thermal conductivity graphite film, for 1.747 billion RMB, accounting for 10.47% of Jones Tech's total share capital. The transfer price is 55.7 RMB per share, and the acquisition is made through a cash agreement transfer.
As of the close on August 14, Zhongji Innolight's latest stock price was 943 RMB per share, with a total market capitalization of 1.1 trillion RMB. Compared to its historical high of 1,416.88 RMB per share on June 22, the stock price has shrunk by more than one-third.
Jones Tech, whose shares were acquired by Zhongji Innolight, hit the daily limit up of 20% directly. Its closing price on August 14 was 67.36 RMB per share, with a total market capitalization of approximately 20.17 billion RMB. Over the past 9 trading days, Jones Tech saw price increases on 8 trading days, with a cumulative increase of over 58%.
Behind these consecutive investments is Zhongji Innolight's deep integration with the upstream and downstream of the AI (Artificial Intelligence) computing power industry chain. It also conceals the company's ambition to break out of a single segment of the computing power industry chain and seek more strategic "positioning".
What is even more thought-provoking is that, given the background of major computing power companies expanding production with massive investments, compared to direct capacity expansion, is achieving industry chain positioning by acquiring shares of upstream and downstream companies a more agile "posture" to enter the game?
The "Open Secret" Behind the 2 Billion RMB "Takeover"
As early as three months ago on May 21, Pengding Holdings announced that its controlling shareholder, Meigang Industrial, planned to reduce its holdings by 24 million shares, lowering its shareholding ratio from 66.19% to 65.15%. At that time, the market was guessing who would take over the shares.
Two months later, the "Post-Hearing Information Package" released by Zhongji Innolight on July 17 showed that on May 21, the company conducted an off-exchange block trade with an independent third party, acquiring 24 million A-shares of a Shenzhen Stock Exchange-listed electronic device company for a total consideration of 2 billion RMB.
Now it is clear that this company is exactly Pengding Holdings.
According to the Securities Times, Zhongji Innolight completed this investment through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Innolight Investment. The company was established in July 2025 with a registered capital of 300 million RMB. Pengding Holdings is the first A-share listed company invested in since the establishment of Innolight Investment.
If looking solely at share returns, the short-term returns of this investment by Zhongji Innolight are not very clear.
Since its listing, the highest stock price of Pengding Holdings appeared on June 18 this year at 123.1 RMB per share, but it subsequently entered a downward adjustment. From June 18 to August 13, the lowest price of Pengding Holdings during this period reached 76.05 RMB per share. Although there has been a recent rebound, it is still hovering in the 100-yuan stock price range. As of the close on August 13, Pengding Holdings closed at 95.72 RMB per share, a daily drop of 5.23%. The market value of the shares held by Zhongji Innolight is approximately 2.297 billion RMB, still in the floating profit range.
Zhongji Innolight's intention for this investment was once disclosed in the "Post-Hearing Information Package", stating that this investment will strengthen its business relationship with the target company.
The business synergy logic between the optical transceiver leader and the PCB leader is not complicated: Pengding Holdings' SLP products (core boards adapted for 800G/1.6T high-speed optical transceivers) have entered the high-end market for 800G/1.6T optical transceivers and achieved mass production and shipment, with 3.2T products entering the R&D stage. And Zhongji Innolight happens to be the major shipper of 800G and 1.6T optical transceivers globally.
Zhongji Innolight's investment in Pengding Holdings focuses more on long-term returns, and of course, not limited to share returns, but more on business collaboration. However, this depends on whether Pengding Holdings' future development can match industry trends and maintain its leading position.
According to the first-half financial report disclosed by Pengding Holdings, the company's revenue was 17.217 billion RMB, and net profit attributable to shareholders was 1.284 billion RMB, increasing by 5.14% and 4.11% respectively. However, breaking it down, the net profit after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was only 892 million RMB, a year-on-year decline of 22.31%.
This part of non-recurring gains is mainly due to changes in fair value generated from investing in Chenyi Fund and other non-current financial assets, with gains reaching as high as 386 million RMB, accounting for 26.84% of total profit. Coupled with government subsidies of 84 million RMB, the total non-recurring gains and losses reached 391 million RMB.
The decline in profit is more clearly reflected in the product lines.
In the first half of this year, Pengding Holdings' revenue from communication boards was 10.048 billion RMB, a year-on-year decline of 2.15%; revenue from consumer electronics and computer boards was 4.742 billion RMB, a year-on-year decrease of 8.36%. The company explained that this was "due to the dual impact of price increases in key downstream components such as memory chips and CPUs, coupled with weak global consumer demand."
Meanwhile, revenue from automotive/server boards reached 2.267 billion RMB, a massive year-on-year increase of 181.58%. Among them, the AI server business was nearly 1 billion RMB, and the optical transceiver business was 626 million RMB, a year-on-year increase of 11 times. In terms of gross profit margin, automotive/server boards reached 37.42%, a year-on-year increase of 20.59 percentage points; the gross profit margins of communication boards and consumer electronics boards also increased by 3.96 and 1.02 percentage points respectively. The company's overall gross profit margin was 23.82%, a year-on-year increase of 5.08 percentage points.
Image source: Company financial report
This gives a sense of contrast: AI business revenue has exploded, with gross profit margins significantly leading the traditional consumer electronics sector; it is just that the traditional business has a larger volume and remains the mainstay of revenue.
The 30 Billion RMB AI Gamble: Financial Pressure Behind the Frenzy of Capacity Expansion
What truly excites the capital market is Pengding Holdings' unprecedented pace of capacity expansion and financing in this round.
On July 3, Pengding Holdings disclosed a private placement plan, intending to raise no more than 9.6 billion RMB, all of which will be invested in the "Qingding AI Server and High-Speed Optical Transceiver High-Density Interconnect Build-Up Board Project". The project plans a total investment of 12.73 billion RMB, and upon completion, will add an annual capacity of approximately 655,600 square meters of high-end HDI.
On July 23, Pengding Holdings announced a plan to invest 10 billion RMB to build a new third park in Shenzhen, constructing an intelligent manufacturing base project for AI high-end substrate-like boards and flexible printed circuit boards. It is planned to start in July 2026 and be completed and put into production in 2033.
Prior to this, on March 17, Qingding Precision, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pengding Holdings, planned to invest 11 billion RMB in Huai'an to build a high-end PCB project production base.
According to statistics from the "21st Century Business Herald", within this year alone, the total AI-related investment announced by Pengding Holdings has exceeded 30 billion RMB. Meanwhile, according to the "Securities Times", Pengding Holdings' expected capital expenditure in 2026 will reach 16.8 billion RMB, approximately 2.5 times that of the 2025 fiscal year.
But capacity expansion requires money. Data from East Money shows that as of the end of June 2026, Pengding Holdings' short-term borrowings rose to 6.895 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 68.36%; long-term borrowings increased to 1.662 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of up to 828.82%. Although Pengding Holdings still has 10.67 billion RMB in monetary funds, considering continuous capital expenditures, the leeway in its balance sheet is narrowing.
Another signal worth noting: net cash flow from operating activities was 3.183 billion RMB, a year-on-year decrease of 25.57%. The company stated that this was mainly due to increased inventory to cope with rising raw material prices.
Pengding Holdings is at a critical time window. The Huai'an project, the third park in Shenzhen, and the Thailand base—multiple 10-billion-level projects are advancing simultaneously, posing a huge test for funding, management, and capacity to absorb orders.
Ideally, capacity is released as scheduled, catching the "dividend period" of AI hardware, and the company enters the profit-generating mode. If project progress falls short of expectations or AI market demand fluctuates, high depreciation and interest expenses will directly erode profits.
Zhongji Innolight's 2 billion RMB "voting with money" is clearly an endorsement of the prospects of Pengding Holdings' AI transformation, but it also stems from Zhongji Innolight's layout considerations for the upstream and downstream of the computing power industry. Since it is going to invest and layout, from the current perspective, which company is more stable than an industry leader?
Innolight's heavy investment in the upstream PCB leader is not a one-time short-term investment, but a part of a series of industry chain layouts. The subsequent acquisition of Jones Tech corroborates this approach.
Serial Acquisitions: Zhongji Innolight Locks in Upstream Optical Transceiver Giants
Following Pengding Holdings, Zhongji Innolight announced the acquisition of Jones Tech shares on the evening of August 13. The consecutive acquisition of shares in two A-share technology companies both point to "business synergy". Simply put, it is to expand its upstream control over its main business.
Unlike Pengding Holdings, Jones Tech belongs to the thermal conductivity and heat dissipation industry. According to a report published by Japan's Fuji Economic, Jones Tech is the global leader in artificially synthesized high thermal conductivity graphite films.
What is closely related to Zhongji Innolight's business is Jones Tech's "functional materials + VC heat dissipation module" solution provided for high-speed optical transceivers; as well as the integrated solution of high-performance thermal conductivity materials + liquid cooling plates provided for the AI server field. Jones Tech stated that its VC module products have passed the certification of leading domestic and foreign optical communication manufacturers and achieved supply.
In 2025, Jones Tech's revenue was approximately 1.835 billion RMB, of which revenue from thermal conductivity materials was about 1.791 billion RMB, accounting for as high as 97.61%.
Zhongji Innolight also has two platforms for external investment: Innolight Investment and Chengdu Zhihe Guangtong Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Chengdu Zhihe").
According to Tianyancha, Innolight Investment was established in 2025 with a registered capital of 300 million RMB, 100% held by Zhongji Innolight. According to Zhongji Innolight's 2025 annual report, the company's actual investment in Innolight Investment was 11 million RMB. This is currently the core entity for Zhongji Innolight to conduct direct equity investment in the A-share market.
Chengdu Zhihe is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zhongji Innolight, registered in Chengdu, mainly engaged in design, R&D, and production. Unlike Innolight Investment, Chengdu Zhihe's role leans more towards participating in industrial funds as a Limited Partner (LP) and making indirect investments through fund platforms.
In addition to directly acquiring listed shares, Zhongji Innolight has other investment methods, including fund investment and industry chain investment. The former mainly involves investments in the Qianrong system and Guotai Haitong.
In September 2025, Innolight Investment subscribed to the capital contribution share of Suzhou Qianrong Yuanfeng Phase II Venture Capital Partnership Enterprise (Limited Partnership) with 20 million RMB of its own funds, holding a 4% share. The total subscribed scale of the fund is 500 million RMB, and the investment direction is in the high-end manufacturing field.
In the same month, Zhongji Innolight subscribed to the capital contribution share of Guotai Haitong Junqi Technology Equity Investment Fund (Kunshan) Partnership Enterprise (Limited Partnership) with 354 million RMB of its own funds, holding a 23.6% share.
The fund manager is Guotai Junan Innovation Investment Co., Ltd., and the investment directions include optical communication, data centers, automotive electronics, robots, and related industry chains. Zhongji Innolight stated that this investment aims to "continuously expand the company's investment layout in fields such as optical communication, data centers, automotive electronics, robots, and related industry chains".
On August 11, 2026, Chengdu Zhihe subscribed to 90% of the capital contribution share of Suzhou Qianrong Shengrun Venture Capital Partnership Enterprise with 27.45 million RMB of its own funds, serving as a limited partner. The total subscribed scale of the fund is 30.5 million RMB, with a duration of 7 years (the first 3 years as the investment period and the latter 4 years as the exit period), focusing on early-stage hard technology project investments.
The particularity of this investment lies in the historical connection between the fund manager Qianrong Capital and Zhongji Innolight.
According to the "Suzhou Daily", Qianrong Capital was an important early investor in Suzhou Innolight (the predecessor of Zhongji Innolight). It made heavy investments in the early stages of the company's development and accompanied the enterprise all the way until its listing.
Now the roles are reversed, and Zhongji Innolight has in turn become the largest investor in the Qianrong system funds. Qianrong Capital has long adhered to the principle of "investing early and investing in hard technology", cumulatively investing in over a hundred sci-tech innovation enterprises. Nineteen of these enterprises have been listed on the A-share, Hong Kong stock, and US stock capital markets, covering fields such as optoelectronics, semiconductors, AI, and high-end equipment.
In addition, according to media reviews such as the "21st Century Business Herald", Zhongji Innolight has also directly invested in multiple industry chain enterprises through its wholly-owned subsidiary Suzhou Innolight Technology Co., Ltd., such as semiconductor equipment manufacturer Jingyan Intelligent, Aoke Optoelectronics, which mainly focuses on silicon photonics + optical transceiver electrical chips, and Leixin Optoelectronics, which produces active laser optical chips.
Zhongji Innolight's investment layout presents a clear logic: mainly focusing on the upstream of its own industry chain, industrial fund leverage, and financial investment.
The main business of Zhongji Innolight is high-speed optical transceivers, and the core upstream of optical transceivers includes optical chips, electrical chips, PCBs, etc. Investing in Aoke Optoelectronics (electrical chips), Leixin Optoelectronics (laser chips), and Jingyan Intelligent (semiconductor equipment) is essentially locking in the upstream supply chain and ensuring capacity security. The PCBs from Pengding Holdings are another key upstream component for optical transceivers.
The external understanding of the shareholding in Pengding Holdings is currently that it "belongs to financial investment, with no other arrangements for the time being". However, Zhongji Innolight also clearly stated in the "Post-Hearing Information Package" that this investment "will strengthen its business relationship with Pengding Holdings".
Zhongji Innolight's investment layout is not considered massive at present, but the direction of its "moves" is precise, all pointing to a core goal: centering around the optical communication industry chain, extending the layout to key upstream links.
From being an invested enterprise in the early years and receiving bets from institutions such as Yuanhe Holdings and Google Capital, to now investing in industry chain partners in reverse as a company with a hundred-billion market capitalization—Zhongji Innolight is undergoing a role transformation from "being chased by capital" to "deploying with capital".
Behind this transformation is the industry discourse power granted to the optical transceiver leader by the AI computing power wave. As for how far this investment layout will expand, it will likely depend on Zhongji Innolight's trade-off in weighting the two goals of "industry chain security" and "capital appreciation".
#AIComputing #AI #OpticalTransceiver #PCB