The “reciprocal tariffs” imposed by the US have taken effect, PCB industry leader reveals.

According to CCTV News, on July 31 local time, US President Trump signed an executive order, determining the “reciprocal tariffs” rates for multiple countries and regions, with specific rates ranging from 10% to 41%. This tariff list will officially take effect at 0:00 on August 7. Trump’s latest tariff plan will impose tariffs higher than 10% on imported goods from about 40 countries. Regarding the impact of the US imposing reciprocal tariffs on the electronics industry, Li Dingzuan, the COO of Zhen Ding, said in an interview before hosting an online earnings call on August 12 that tariffs pose challenges to the global supply chain, especially for the printed circuit board (PCB) industry, which mainly serves the US market. However, according to the company’s research, despite the pressure brought by the tariff measures, the PCB industry still shows strong resilience and continues to drive growth momentum through technological innovation and diversified market layout. Li Dingzuan said that currently, most electronic products have a market share of about 35% in the US, while the remaining 65% is distributed in other international markets, which enables the industry to partially mitigate the tariff risks. He emphasized that after the US government announced the reciprocal tariff rates for various countries in August, it did not have a significant impact on orders from major customers or overall production capacity, and market demand remained stable. Notably, emerging applications such as AI phones, smart glasses, and humanoid robots have become important drivers for PCB demand. These innovative products not only impose higher technical requirements on PCBs but also continuously increase the related output value. The industry generally believes that these emerging fields can offset the potential fluctuations in the traditional consumer electronics market caused by tariffs. Shen Qingfang, the chairman of Zhen Ding, said that the integration and technological upgrading of the PCB industry chain are key to addressing tariff challenges. From material selection, process optimization, to the introduction of intelligent manufacturing, all can help improve production efficiency and product added value, thereby strengthening international competitiveness. Looking ahead, Shen Qingfang emphasized that although the global trade environment remains uncertain, industry confidence remains stable. Companies will continue to focus on high-end technologies and diversified application fields, and strengthen international cooperation to actively expand non-US markets and inject more growth momentum into overall operations. According to previous announcements, Zhen Ding’s cumulative consolidated revenue for the first seven months reached NT$91.638 billion, an increase of 16.91% year-on-year, setting a new record for the same period in history. Zhen Ding explained that the fluctuation in the exchange rate led to a slight year-on-year decrease in revenue denominated in New Taiwan dollars, but driven by customer inventory demand, revenue in July increased by double digits year-on-year when calculated in US dollars. Among them, the revenue of IC substrates continued to grow, and the new products of mobile communication and consumer electronics entered the peak demand period, and the overall performance still met expectations.
In terms of product structure, Zhen Ding’s revenue share of IC substrates is expected to increase from 3.3% last year to 5.2% this year, and further expand to a high single-digit level next year. The ABF substrate, which has been deeply cultivated for many years, has seen a steady increase in the utilization rate of the Shenzhen factory, and the new factory in Kaohsiung is also scheduled to be put into operation in 2026, which will help optimize supply momentum and customer mix simultaneously. In addition, the demand for AI servers and emerging applications continues to increase, and the revenue contribution of related businesses is expected to rise to 7% to 8%, becoming one of the growth cores in the next two years.
Although Zhen Ding’s cumulative revenue increased by more than 10% year-on-year, profits still face challenges from exchange rate and raw material cost fluctuations. It is estimated that a 1% change in the exchange rate will affect the gross margin by about 0.2 to 0.3 percentage points. Looking ahead, legal persons predict that Zhen Ding will continue the momentum of the consumer electronics peak season and benefit from the growth of high-end product ASP driven by the rising penetration rate of AI applications. The annual revenue is expected to exceed NT$180 billion, increasing by nearly 10% year-on-year. With the continuous expansion of the market share of substrate and the increase in production capacity driving the upgrading of the revenue structure, the upward trend will also continue next year.