Volkswagen Group plans to reduce its global production capacity by 10% to 9 million vehicles. The company is believed to be considering collaborating with Chinese car companies, producing cars for partners, and selling factories. Volkswagen is exploring cooperation with Chinese companies. Consider producing low-cost vehicles developed by Volkswagen in China and Chinese branded vehicles in factories with low operating rates. Volkswagen injected approximately $700 million into Xiaopeng in 2023 to jointly develop pure electric vehicles. At present, Xiaopeng has entrusted Magna, a manufacturer of automobiles in Austria, to carry out production and has shown a strong willingness to expand its business in Europe.
Thursday (June 11th) Organic Silicon Market Observation: AI Computing Power Ignites Partial Organic Silicon Auxiliary Material Revolution
If chips are the "brain" of electronic devices, printed circuit boards (PCBs) are the core "skeleton" and "nervous system" that carry and connect electronic components. Chips, resistors, capacitors, sensors and other electronic components are all soldered onto the PCB board, and the densely etched copper lines inside are responsible for the current transmission and data signal transmission of the entire machine, making it the core communication hub of electronic devices. From smartphones, laptops to artificial intelligence servers, almost all modern electronic products cannot do without it.
Recently, a report from Goldman Sachs showed that in April 2026 alone, the price of printed circuit boards increased by 40% compared to the highest in March. About 70% of PPE resins worldwide have been cut off due to the Middle East geopolitical conflict, which has become an important trigger for this round of price increases. Meanwhile, the stock price of American printed circuit board manufacturer TTM Technologies has risen by over 400% in the past year. The high prosperity of the PCB industry is spreading to the auxiliary materials of the industrial chain - organic silicon conformal coatings (three proof paints), organic silicon potting adhesives, organic silicon pressure-sensitive adhesives, organic silicon defoamers, and chemical silicon micro powders are all in short supply, and prices continue to rise, with the price of chemical silicon micro powders skyrocketing by more than 1000%.
Silicon micro powder: leaping from ordinary fillers to core functional materials
Silicon micro powder is the core filling material of copper clad laminate (CCL). With the upgrade of AI servers to M9 and M10 level multi-layer PCBs, the demand for fillers has undergone fundamental changes. Traditional angular silicon micro powder cannot meet the technical requirements of high frequency, low dielectric loss, and high heat resistance. M9/M10 grade PCBs require the filling ratio of silicon micro powder to be increased to 40%, and chemical spherical silicon micro powder must be used. This transformation has elevated silica micro powder fillers from "ordinary fillers" to "core functional materials", and their value proportion in copper-clad laminates has also increased from 4% -5% in the M1-M3 era to nearly 20% in the M9 era.
The supply-demand gap continues to widen, with prices skyrocketing by over 1000%
On the demand side, the demand for M9/M10 copper-clad laminates will be approximately 32 million pieces in 2026, corresponding to a demand of approximately 18000 tons for chemical method spherical silicon micro powder. It is expected to further increase to 26000 tons in 2027. From the supply side, only a few manufacturers in the world can mass produce chemical spherical silicon micro powder (particle size 50nm-1 μ m), with extremely high technical barriers. The certification cycle for top copper-clad laminate manufacturers is long, and the speed of new capacity release cannot keep up with the growth rate of demand. The supply-demand gap continues to widen. In terms of price, the unit price of ordinary angular silicon micro powder is about 5000 yuan/ton and there is overcapacity. Ordinary silicon micro powder is generally used in silicone rubber mainly for physical reinforcement, wear resistance improvement, heat and aging resistance improvement, and processing performance optimization. The unit price of chemical spherical silicon micro powder adapted for AI PCB has reached 200000 to 500000 yuan/ton, and some products will further increase by 10% between April and May 2026. The value of the product has increased by more than 10 times compared to ordinary products, making it the most flexible auxiliary material link at present.