CITIC Construction Investment: Continue to focus on semiconductor material import substitution transactions

The Zhitong Finance App learned that CITIC Construction Investment Securities released a research report saying that AI inflation is currently on the material side, while the targets of the material sector are more scattered, and most of the powerful companies are in Japan, and the tension in bilateral relations has accelerated since the second half of 2025. Supply-side imports replaced, and demand-side AI inflation became an almost perfect combination. According to CITIC Construction Investment's judgment, there will be more room for interpretation on the Japanese import substitution theme. It will continue to pay attention to semiconductor material import substitution transactions, and pay attention to the pace of certification and investment opportunities for domestic semiconductor materials companies to accelerate import substitution.

Continue to pay attention to material choices under import substitution transactions. Japanese semiconductor materials companies have a high share of the global semiconductor materials market. According to CITIC Construction Investment statistics, 14 of the 19 major materials have the highest market share. On the one hand, there is the expansion of demand brought about by industrial trends, and on the other hand, the supply substitution logic brought about by strained relations between countries. Import substitution of key materials is expected to be further interpreted. CITIC Construction Investment has selected a segment with a high market share of Japanese companies at present, focusing on investment opportunities brought about by the acceleration of domestic substitution: photomask versions, blank mask versions, semiconductor precursors, CMP polishing pads, photoresists and monomers, ceramic powders, InP substrates, PI films, high-end fluorine materials, wet electronic chemicals, large silicon wafers, etc.

Apple accepts Samsung's storage price increase in the first quarter of next year. Jin10 Data, September 15. We learned from the industry chain that Apple has accepted Samsung Electronics' offer of memory chips for the first quarter of 2027: DRAM (dynamic random access memory) is close to $2.0/Gb, and NAND flash memory is close to $0.33/GB, up 30%-40% from the price in the third quarter of this year. In the context of AI computing power siphoning capacity, the structural shortage of general-purpose storage is a foregone conclusion. Pressured by high costs, domestic storage is expected to usher in a strategic opportunity to accelerate implementation.

United Airlines extended the Neste SAF purchase agreement, and the demand for decarbonization in international aviation was once again verified. On September 16, Neste, the world's largest producer of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), announced the extension of the SAF supply agreement with United Airlines (United Airlines) to cover the two major international aviation hubs, Chicago O'Hare and Amsterdam Schiphol. The supply at Chicago Airport will continue until June 2027. The significance of the industry is that long-term orders from leading airlines and leading fuel suppliers have been confirmed once again, indicating that under the dual drive of the EU's RefuelEU mandatory blending policy and the airline's net zero commitment, overseas SAF demand has shifted from pilot procurement to normalized and large-scale procurement, and demand certainty has further increased. As far as the industrial chain is concerned, first, Changxie's implementation is expected to improve the return on investment expectations of SAF projects and accelerate the investment of new global production capacity; second, China's biodiesel and SAF companies can rely on mature HEFA processes and EU certification qualifications to meet overseas demand gaps and open up export space; third, raw material supply and filling support links in the aviation carbon reduction chain will benefit simultaneously. The event provided a clear overseas demand-side catalyst for the SAF sector.

According to CITIC Construction Investment's statistics, the new materials sector saw price increases this week: SAF European FOB (+7.94%), polyether amine D230 (+3.57%), and epoxy resin (+3.28%); the varieties with the biggest drop this week are: lithium iron phosphate (-1.84%). The biggest increase in the new materials sector this week was fragrance, PLA, etc. The top 5 new material targets this week were Ruifeng High Materials, Jindan Technology, Huabao Co., Ltd., Haizheng Raw Materials, and Deguan New Materials; the top 5 new materials with this week's declines were: Jitai Co., Ltd., Excellent New Energy, Chongqing Three Gorges A, Sanyuan Biotechnology, and Zanyu Technology. The new materials sector outperformed the basic chemicals sector this week: weekly change of +1.80% of the Shenwan Basic Chemical New Materials Index, +1.24% weekly change of Shenwan Basic Chemical Index, -0.06% weekly change of the Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index, +0.61% of the weekly change of the Shanghai Composite Index, and +1.26% of the weekly change of Shenzhen Securities Index.

Apple released the first folding screen iPhone, and consumer electronics ushered in a new cycle of form innovation. On September 9, according to a Reuters report, Apple officially launched the first folding screen phone, the iPhone Duo, with a starting price of 1999 US dollars. After the product was launched, it was equipped with a 7.6-inch display and an A20 Pro chip using a 2 nm process to further enhance end-side AI, graphics processing, and multi-tasking capabilities. Apple's entry into the market is expected to use its brand influence and software and hardware ecosystem to accelerate the transition of folding screen phones from a niche category to the mainstream, driving demand growth in core links such as flexible OLEDs, hinges, precision structural parts, heat dissipation, and advanced process chips, and opening a new cycle of product innovation and value enhancement for the consumer electronics industry chain.

TSMC's 1.4 nm supercluster has been formed, and the four factories in the Zhongke Phase II Park will take over mass production next year. The China Science and Technology Administration confirmed on September 9 that TSMC's second phase of the 1.4 nm plant has been fully accelerated. The first (P1) plant has now completed the steel structure. It is expected to be ready for testing in April next year, and mass production is expected in the second half of next year. According to information, TSMC has submitted an application to the China Science and Technology Administration to build two temporary offices at the base. It is expected to be completed simultaneously in April next year. The first batch of more than 5,400 operators and outsourcers will be stationed. This also means that the P1 plant will start testing in April next year, and there will be an opportunity for mass production in the second half of the year, ahead of the schedule of mass production in 2028.

OpenAI launched the flagship model GPT-6 Astra to accelerate multi-scenario commercialization. OpenAI officially released the next-generation flagship model, the GPT-6 Astra. The model has made comprehensive breakthroughs in computer autonomous operation (OSWorld 72.6%), mathematical scientific research (ARC-AGI-3 99.9%), and programming engineering (Terminal-Bench 57.7%), and introduced a cross-context saving mechanism to solve the problem of long-task forgetting; although its cybersecurity capabilities have reached the “Critical” threshold, the government ensures compliance and alignment through enhanced behavioral trajectory monitoring; currently, the model is being phased in ChatGPT is open for paid users and API/AWS Bedrock. The standard API pricing is $10/output of $50 per million tokens, further reducing actual business implementation costs with higher single-task token efficiency.

Power silicon-carbon shipments exceeded 300 tons per month, and solid-state batteries were launched at an accelerated pace. According to the latest data from GGII (GGII), by August 2026, domestic monthly shipments of new silicon-carbon powders for power batteries have exceeded 300 tons, and monthly shipments of composite silicon-based materials have exceeded 4,000 tons; it is expected that in 2026, annual shipments of new silicon-carbon composites for power batteries will exceed 50,000 tons. According to GGII data, in 2025, China shipped more than 2,000 tons of new silicon-carbon pure powder per year, equivalent to more than 15,000 tons of silicon-based composites. At that time, the digital market had already unfolded, and the power sector was affected by factors such as material consistency, and the whole was still in the verification stage. Currently, a month of new silicon carbon powder shipments in the power market alone is equivalent to 1.8 times the average monthly shipment volume of new silicon-carbon pure powder nationwide in 2025, and mass production of solid-state batteries will accelerate.

Nvidia's Q2 performance surpassed expectations, driving the continuation of the high AI computing power boom. On August 26, local time, Nvidia announced total revenue for the second quarter of US$96.2 billion, up 18% month-on-month and 106% year-on-year; data center business revenue of US$89 billion, up 117% year on year, became the core driving force for the performance. Both GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins for the quarter reached 75%, GAAP diluted earnings per share of $2.46, and non-GAAP diluted earnings of $2.22 per share. Nvidia gave guidance for the third quarter. Revenue is expected to be US$108 billion (fluctuating ± 2%). This forecast does not include data center computing power business revenue in China, and the gross margin is expected to be 74%. In the second quarter, the company returned 26 billion US dollars to shareholders through repurchases and dividends, and the remaining repurchase authorization amount was 99 billion US dollars. Nvidia's chief financial officer Colette Kress said that Nvidia's performance growth rate will accelerate next year, and revenue is expected to increase 70% in the 2028 fiscal year. She also said, “Even at our current scale, demand is growing at an accelerated pace. Customer predictions suggest we will double our growth next year”.

Trump signs executive order: battery energy storage systems are included in the ban list. On August 26, US President Trump signed the executive order “Declaring a State of Emergency to Safeguard the Safety of America's Large Power Systems”. In addition to large transformers, generators, and circuit breakers, battery energy storage systems (BESS), grid-connected inverters, and uninterruptible power supplies serving critical infrastructure were clearly included in this type of national security review for the first time. This means that when Chinese energy storage products enter the US, they no longer face only tariffs and tax credit restrictions. The US government will have more direct executive powers to decide whether products can be imported, deployed, and continued to operate. At present, the executive order directly targets large-scale power system equipment such as energy storage systems and inverters. There is no separate name for batteries, nor has it announced a ban on all Chinese energy storage products. Specific implementation rules will be formulated by the US Department of Energy within the next 120 days.

The peak export season is here, and silicon wafers have surged this week. On August 21, the Silicon Industry Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association released the latest silicon wafer prices. Downstream demand has increased, and silicon wafer prices have risen sharply this week. The average transaction price of N-type G10L monocrystalline silicon wafers (182*183.75mm/130 μm) was 1.12 yuan/sheet, up 40.00% from last week; the average transaction price of N-type G12R monocrystalline silicon wafers (182*210mm/130 μm) was 1.14 yuan/piece, up 26.67% from last week; N-type G12 monocrystalline silicon wafers (210*210 mm/130 μm) averaged 1.22 yuan/sheet, up 10.91% from last week. The main reason for the sharp rise in silicon wafer prices this week is the increase in downstream demand. Specifically: Although domestic terminal demand is average, due to the 232 policy, overseas cell companies are speeding up the procurement of silicon wafers during the window period in order to avoid risks. At the same time, India's traditional peak installation season is approaching, driving a concentrated release of demand for silicon wafer export orders. Increased demand, compounded by the market sentiment of buying up or down, the market showed a tight supply situation in the short term, driving up silicon wafer prices.

The EU's mandatory blending policy continues to be implemented, and the pace of expansion of the global SAF market has further accelerated. According to Bloomberg, according to the latest data from leading European airlines, IAG Group, Air France-KLM, and Ryanair's actual SAF blending ratio reached 3.3%, 2.9%, and 2.0% respectively in the 2025-2026 fiscal year. The overall SAF usage scale of European airlines has already surpassed the total SAF usage scale of all US airlines. The core factor driving the difference is the mandatory blending regulations implemented by the European Union and the United Kingdom. The policy side clearly indicates that the SAF blending ratio of aviation fuel in the UK will rise to 3.6% in 2026. The rigid growth in demand in the European market will drive the long-term rise in global sustainable aviation fuel premiums. Leading domestic companies with bio-aviation fuel and e-SAF technology reserves are expected to usher in a window of growth in overseas export orders. At the same time, industrial demonstration effects in overseas markets will also drive up expectations for the implementation of domestic blending policies. Industrial chain links such as upstream biomass raw materials, green hydrogen synthesis, and SAF refining and chemical engineering are all catalyzed by medium- to long-term prosperity.

SK Hynix announced a large repurchase plan. On August 19, SK Hynix announced a share repurchase and total cancellation plan worth 40 trillion won (US$28.6 billion), the highest in the history of a Korean listed company. According to the announcement submitted by SK Hynix to the Korea Exchange, the repurchase amount is 40.0043 trillion won, which is equivalent to about 24.07 million shares, based on the closing price of 16.62 million won on the day before the board resolution, accounting for 3.3% of the company's total issued shares. The repurchase plan is expected to be implemented starting August 20. The period is about three months. After completion, all repurchased shares will be cancelled.

The two ministries and commissions issued the “Fifteenth Five-Year Plan” for the Construction of New Electric Power Systems. On August 3, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration issued a notice on the “15th Five-Year Plan for the Construction of New Electric Power Systems”, which provides plans for the “15th Five-Year Plan” development goals for power systems and various types of power sources. According to the document, by 2030, a new power system will be initially completed: a green and low-carbon electricity supply pattern will basically be formed, and non-fossil energy will account for 50% of power generation, achieving a high level of consumption of more than 2.8 billion kilowatts of new energy. In terms of new energy, the plan proposes to determine the guiding target for the utilization rate of new energy by region, and the national energy utilization rate remains around 90%.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the “15th Five-Year Plan” for industrial green and low carbon: the application of green electricity in the industrial sector has entered a period of large-scale acceleration. On July 31, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially issued the “15th Five-Year Plan” for Green and Low-Carbon Industrial Development (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Regulation (2026) No. 169), which lays out a road map for the green transformation of the industrial sector during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period. In this document, green energy is placed at an unprecedented strategic height — from energy use structural transformation to industrial space layout, from microgrid construction to a direct green power connection model, the industrial sector is becoming the next main battleground for new energy consumption. The plan is clear. By 2030, carbon dioxide emissions in the industrial sector will peak, and the proportion of green energy applications will increase significantly. The energy consumption of industrial units above scale will drop by more than 10%, carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by more than 17%, the output value of green factories at all levels will increase from 30% to 45% in the total output value of manufacturing above scale in 2025, and the number of zero-carbon factories cultivated and built will reach 500.

The “15th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development” was released, setting targets such as a total installed capacity of 3.5 billion kilowatts of renewable energy power generation, 2.8 billion kilowatts of wind power generation and 6 trillion kilowatt-hours of annual power generation, and proposed reliable alternative targets for the first time: the average confidence output of scenery reached 8%, the peak wind power generation in summer and evening, accounting for more than 20%, and the “15th Five-Year Plan” added more than 300 million kilowatts of reliable peak power generation capacity. Deploy the “Three North” base to add 370 million kilowatts of installed capacity, start 100 million kilowatts of offshore wind power, add 300 million kilowatts of distributed new energy, and make it clear that in principle, the confidence output of the newly built centralized wind and power stations will not be less than 10%.

Samsung unveiled the first AI smart glasses, and the Android XR wearable ecosystem is being developed at an accelerated pace. On July 22, Samsung Electronics unveiled the first AI smart glasses at the Galaxy Unpacked 2026 press conference in London, equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 Gen1 chip, using Google Android XR as the underlying operating system, integrated Gemini AI assistant, and a built-in camera that supports real-time visual perception. The battery life is up to 9 hours at a time. It is scheduled to be launched in the fall of 2026. This product is the first consumer-grade lightweight wearable commercial launch on the Android XR platform. It forms direct competition with the Meta Ray-Ban series. It is expected to accelerate the penetration of AI eyewear categories and drive demand growth in the industry chain for low-power AI chips, optical modules, and acoustic devices.

The first sub-stage of the world's first “marine network recycling” rocket was successfully recovered. At around 12:00 on July 10, 2026, China Aerospace ushered in a historic moment — the Long March 10B carrier rocket was ignited at station 2 of the Hainan commercial space launch site and successfully completed a network recycling mission at sea. This is the first time that China has successfully implemented the first sub-stage controlled recycling of a launch vehicle, and it is also the first time in the world that a launch vehicle network system has been recycled. This feat marks a major breakthrough in China's reusable launch vehicle technology. In the next 3 years, China's commercial aerospace launch costs are expected to drop by about 50%. The global space competition pattern will shift from being dominated by unipolar to parallel bipolar between China and the US, and related materials are expected to benefit.

Focus on material choices under import substitution transactions. AI inflation has reached the material side, and the targets in the materials sector are more scattered, and most of the powerful companies are in Japan, and the tension in bilateral relations since the second half of '25 is showing signs of acceleration. Supply-side imports replaced, and demand-side AI inflation became an almost perfect combination. According to CITIC Construction Investment's judgment, there will be more room for interpretation on the theme of import substitution. Japanese semiconductor materials companies have a high share of the global semiconductor materials market. According to CITIC Construction Investment statistics, 14 of the 19 major materials have the highest market share. On the one hand, there is the expansion of demand brought about by industrial trends, and on the other hand, the supply substitution logic brought about by strained relations between countries. Import substitution of key materials is expected to be further interpreted. CITIC Construction Investment has selected a segment with a high market share of Japanese companies at present, focusing on investment opportunities brought about by the acceleration of domestic substitution: photomask versions, blank mask versions, semiconductor precursors, CMP polishing pads, photoresists and monomers, ceramic powders, InP substrates, PI films, high-end fluorine materials, wet electronic chemicals, large silicon wafers, etc.

Wet electronic chemicals: Driven by AI demand, the localization rate is expected to increase again. Wet electronic chemicals are mainly used in wet processes such as cleaning, etching, imaging, and peeling in the manufacture of electronic devices such as semiconductors and display panels. They have undergone strict purification, have extremely low impurity content, and have high technical barriers and customer stickiness. On the demand side, AI-driven advanced processes and applications such as 3D NAND are rolled out, and the unit consumption of wet electronic chemicals is expected to increase significantly. On the supply side, the current global wet electronic chemicals are still dominated by foreign investors such as Japan, Germany, the US, etc., and the localization rate in the G5 high-end market is still less than 30%. Furthermore, China's wet electronic chemicals industry relies on the stable supply of upstream general chemical raw materials, combined with the rapid expansion of downstream domestic storage, logic chip production capacity, and accelerated customer verification. It is expected that the product structure upgrade and localization rate increase in China's G5 high-end wet electronic chemicals industry will continue to be realized.

Japan has a high monopoly on ArF photoresist monopolies, and localization is expected to accelerate. Photoresist resin monomers have been monopolized by Japanese companies for a long time, and the risk of supply cuts is prominent. Even Japanese photoresist companies will outsource monopoly on monomers. Therefore, breakthroughs in the localization of photoresist cannot fully guarantee autonomy and control; only import substitution of monomers can guarantee the reliability of domestic supply. As far as monomers are concerned, the key is purity and batch stability. Resin monomers for G-line, I-line, and KrF photoresists can already be initially domesticated. ArF photoresist resin monomers are in the bottleneck stage, and 70% of the global supply is controlled by Osaka Organic Chemical. Once supply is cut off, advanced manufacturing processes will face a shortage of raw materials, so import substitution of ArF photoresist resin monomers is a necessary condition to ensure the continuous development of the domestic semiconductor industry chain.

Driven by AI demand, the MLCC nanoceramic powder boom reversed. The AI server was upgraded from GB300 to Vera Rubin/Rubin, and automotive electronics were expanded under electrification/800V/advanced intelligent driving. High-end MLCCs experienced bottlenecks and were transmitted upstream to barium titanate powder/formula. AI grade powder particle size is 100-300nm, and higher consistency and batch stability are required. The price of AI-grade powders is also significantly higher than traditional powders; at the same time, high-end formulations rely on rare earth doping systems, and there is uncertainty about the expansion of production and closed supply in the Japanese system under rare earth export restrictions and safe trade in the supply chain between China and Japan. A few domestic suppliers with the capacity to mass-produce high-end MLCC medium powders, such as Sinocera, are expected to fully benefit from the growing demand for MLCC high-end powders in the AI era.

Fluorine materials: Performance drives the explosion of AI & semiconductor application scenarios, and is a good choice for import substitution. PFA: Because of its extremely low metal ion precipitation characteristics and strong acid and alkali corrosion resistance, it can be used for etching tanks, cleaning tanks, CMP components, heat exchanger linings during semiconductor etching and cleaning, as well as wafer carriers and CVD reaction chamber coatings during wafer transfer. It is expected that with the improvement of advanced manufacturing processes, demand for PFA will grow significantly. On the supply side, high-end semiconductor-grade PFA is mainly controlled by overseas companies Chemu and Dajin. Juhua Co., Ltd. recently started production of 10,000 tons of ultra-pure PFA, which is the first domestic company to break through the price of 600,000 yuan/ton. Electronic-grade PTFE: PTFE is currently the most ideal high-frequency high-speed CCL substrate resin material because it has extremely low DF values and dK values. Since PTFE is significantly cheaper than other materials and has superior superposition performance, it is expected to usher in a high-speed release period. FEP: High-end FEP can also be used as a protective layer for optical fibers and semiconductor wet cleaning pipelines.

With the rapid development of advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes, new energy sources, and high-frequency communication, the fluorine-containing polymer materials industry is being upgraded. Since fluorine-containing polymer materials have strong C-F bonds, their properties are extremely stable and have excellent corrosion resistance, chemical stability and dielectric properties. In semiconductor 1) PFA, the full name of fusible polytetrafluoroethylene, is a high-end modified version of PTFE. PFA has become an irreplaceable key material in advanced semiconductor processes due to its extremely low metal ion precipitation characteristics and strong acid and alkali corrosion resistance. PFA can currently be used in etching tanks, cleaning tanks, CMP components, heat exchanger linings in semiconductor etching and cleaning processes, as well as wafer carriers and CVD reaction chamber coatings during wafer transfer. The price of high-end products in the semiconductor field can reach the price range of 600,000 yuan/ton. Currently, the global semiconductor market demand is about 20,000 tons, and domestic demand is about 6,000-7,000 tons. It is expected that with the improvement of advanced manufacturing processes, demand for PFA will grow significantly. The global PFA production capacity is mainly overseas. Recently, Juhua Co., Ltd. achieved autonomous mass production of 10,000 tons of ultra-pure PFA, making it autonomous and controllable, and there is broad scope for import substitution. 2) FFKM, the full name of perfluoroether rubber, is an upgraded version of fluororubber FKM. In the molecular structure of FFKM, carbon-fluorine bonds replace all carbon-hydrogen bonds, and have excellent resistance to ultra-high temperatures, extreme gas-liquid chemical corrosion resistance, rich plasma corrosion resistance, and ultra-high cleanliness. It is the variety with the best comprehensive performance among all synthetic rubbers, and is an indispensable sealing material in advanced semiconductor processes. Currently, the total global demand is about 200 tons, and it is monopolized by overseas giants such as Comus, Daikin, Solvay, and DuPont.

AI+ drones drive the optical fiber industry chain, and the material side is expected to enjoy a sharp rise in volume and price. AI big model training is driving the data center network architecture from traditional three-layer convergence to a fully interconnected leaf-spine architecture, and the shift of data traffic from north-south access to east-west interconnection within GPU clusters. In order to meet the demand for non-blocking, low-latency communication, the fiber consumption of a single rack or single GPU is growing rapidly. In addition, the rapid expansion of drone capacity has also made optical fiber a consumable material. Driven by demand for AI+ drones, products such as upstream optical fiber materials such as silicon tetrachloride, silicone D4, optical fiber coatings, and para-aramid are expected to usher in a sharp rise in volume and price.

Demand for high frequency and high speed, such as computing power, is growing rapidly, and electronic grade PTFE is expected to be used on a large scale. PTFE material is known as the “King of Plastics” because of its main characteristics including excellent thermal stability, chemical resistance, and dielectric properties. Demand for PTFE downstream military, high-speed cable, and high-speed board is expected to grow rapidly. As the Rubin Ultra mass production node for Nvidia's next-generation server approaches, the industry is actively discussing the possibility of using PTFE materials as orthogonal backplates, and domestic Shengyi Technology is actively cooperating to actively verify it. CITIC Construction Investment believes that as demand for high-frequency high-speed transmission continues to grow, led by computing power infrastructure, etc., the downstream field of PTFE is expected to be redefined.

Pay attention to the certainty of downstream expansion, decentralization, and value increase in the precursor industry. Precursor products benefit from a large cycle of downstream production capacity expansion, and have high performance and strong certainty of growth. Downstream fabs such as Hynix plan to double the production capacity of the fab over the next 5 years, and Changxin also has plans to expand production capacity close to doubling by 2030. Based on the critical role of precursor products in the manufacturing process and the subsequent process of increasingly microscopic/high-end chip manufacturing, CITIC Construction Investment believes that leading companies in the industry have the possibility of higher and downstream bargaining and changes in value under product category iteration.

The rapid development of AI has led to a wave of MLCCs being out of stock. With the rapid development of the artificial intelligence industry, the MLCC load capacity of AI servers has increased dramatically compared to ordinary servers due to huge power consumption. According to the China Securities News, the increase has more than tripled, and supply constraints have intensified due to a surge in demand. Electrification, intelligence, and connectivity have become trends in the automotive industry. With the increase in control modules, the amount of MLCCs used for bicycles has also increased markedly.

Lianlong: The anti-aging agent cycle will improve, and the orderly development of multiple businesses will help growth. In 2025, players in the anti-aging agent industry generally lost money. The industry fell to a historic bottom, and the industry spontaneously launched an anti-internal roll campaign to push prices to recover at the end of the year. Since March 2026, overseas BASF and Songwon have twice announced a 20% price increase for anti-aging products, which will accelerate price recovery, and the company is expected to fully benefit. In 2025, the company's lubricant additives business ushered in a profit inflection point. With the implementation of APIs and the entry of major customers, it is expected that the upward trend will accelerate in the future. Furthermore, the company's life science business customers are developing smoothly, PI materials are being delivered, and the Malaysian base is progressing in an orderly manner, which is expected to help the company grow with high quality.

SEMI said semiconductor demand will continue to surge despite being affected by the Middle East crisis, trade uncertainty and shortages of raw materials. Driven by AI data centers, global semiconductor sales are expected to reach 1 trillion US dollars this year and double to 2 trillion US dollars in 2035. Geopolitical risks are difficult to contain the industry's prosperity this year, but the shortage of raw materials may affect long-term prospects. Countries are addressing the shortage of key minerals and key gases such as bromine and helium. Among them, the price of helium rose sharply in March due to the situation in the Middle East, and bromine is also at risk of shortage.

The main source of helium supply is blocked. Downstream acceptance of price increases is high, and price flexibility is worth looking forward to. 1) Supply side: Currently, the main import sources from the Middle East and Russia are almost completely “zeroed out”. Even if the air supply is completely restored immediately, it will take several months considering the transportation time and device restart time; Russia expects the replacement gas source to be blocked and export controls on helium will be implemented on April 14; 2) On the demand side, in major terminal applications such as nuclear magnetic resonance and semiconductors, helium does not account for a high share of the overall cost; 3) Inventory side: the conflict is now close to March, and domestic inventories have declined rapidly. CITIC Construction Investment believes that the continued rise in helium prices has sufficient momentum and great flexibility.

The planned wind and light installed capacity exceeds 930 GW, and the “15th Five-Year Plan” key new energy plans for 21 provinces and cities have been announced. As of April 2026, out of 31 provinces and cities across the country, 21 provinces and cities of Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Beijing, Tianjin, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Shandong, Shanghai, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Qinghai, and Tibet have announced the outline of the fifteenth five-year plan. According to the new energy construction targets of each province and city and the installed capacity by the end of 2025, 21 provinces and cities are planning to add more than 930 GW of wind and light. Among them, Inner Mongolia plans to add the largest scale, nearly 155 GW. Qinghai is second, with about 102 GW. The five provinces of Shanxi, Gansu, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Sichuan plan to add 50 GW or more.

Mass production of solid-state batteries will accelerate in 2026. Starting in 2026, the solid state battery market continues to be hot, and 16 solid state battery and material projects have been put into operation, started and signed. Sixteen solid state battery and material projects in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong and other places have been intensively started, put into operation, or signed. Of these, 8 have been put into operation and 8 have been signed, covering the two core links of core electrolyte materials and solid state batteries. Among them, semi-solid state battery technology is more mature and is currently the main force driving mass production implementation in the industry, while all-solid-state batteries are in the “mass production pilot and commercial exploration” stage. On the technical side, among the projects that have already been put into operation and construction, the oxide electrolyte route is faster in terms of mass production and commercialization; on the material side, there are 2 solid-state battery projects that have been put into operation and started, namely the Zijin Mining Solid State Battery Lithium Battery New Material Project and the Taizhou Qingtao Solid State Battery Raw Material Project (Phase 1). Currently, the boom in the solid-state battery industry continues to rise. Leading companies are promoting pilot line construction and product trial production verification. It is expected that more heavyweight all-solid-state products will be launched in the second half of 2026.