From an ordinary employee to the "Chemical Industry Tycoon", Leslie Cheung built a leading copper-clad laminate enterprise worth 140 billion Hong Kong dollars
The AI wave has swept across the capital market, and companies in the AI industrial chain are becoming the "favorites" pursued by funds. In the Hong Kong stock market, there is a listed company called Kingboard Holdings Limited. Recently, its stock price once exceeded HK$151, and the stock price has cumulatively increased by more than 3.5 times in less than half a year, with a total market value exceeding HK$140 billion. Kingboard Holdings Limited was founded in 1988 by entrepreneur Leslie Cheung. The company started with copper - clad laminates. In 1993, the company was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Subsequently, the company spun off two of its subsidiaries and listed them on the Singapore Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange respectively.
Under the leadership of Leslie Cheung, Kingboard Holdings Limited has gradually developed and grown into the world's largest copper - clad laminate manufacturer, with more than 60 factories globally.
Interestingly, in order to avoid performance fluctuations and the cost impact of the price fluctuations of raw material copper, Leslie Cheung once led Kingboard Holdings Limited to invest in the real estate market. The company not only developed real estate projects on its own but also made large - scale purchases of bonds issued by real estate enterprises, such as purchasing US - dollar bonds of R&F Properties.
However, the large - scale investment in bonds issued by real estate enterprises brought great losses to Leslie Cheung and Kingboard Holdings Limited. In 2023, the net profit of Kingboard Holdings Limited decreased by 45% year - on - year, partly due to the credit loss provision for R&F Properties' bonds. As a result, Leslie Cheung said that the company would withdraw from the mainland real estate market.
However, fortunately, with the explosion of the artificial intelligence industry, it has brought a historic opportunity for the business development of Kingboard Holdings Limited. Leslie Cheung has a forward - looking vision. When the consumer electronics market was in a downturn, instead of reducing production capacity, he expanded the high - end product line against the trend, opening up room for performance growth.
The price of copper - clad laminates, the raw material required for PCB production, has continued to rise significantly, and the supply is in short supply. Kingboard Laminates Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of Kingboard Holdings Limited, is the global leader in rigid copper - clad laminates. Citigroup previously raised its profit forecast for Kingboard Holdings Limited from 2026 to 2028 by 34% to 53%, mainly benefiting from the unexpected increase in the price of electronic glass fiber cloth of Kingboard Laminates Holdings Limited.
At present, Leslie Cheung is leading Kingboard Holdings Limited to continuously increase its investment in the AI industry, deeply cultivate and expand the copper - clad laminate business, and stand at the forefront of the era. Can Kingboard Holdings Limited achieve further development?
A "Worker" Becomes a "Chemical King" through Entrepreneurship
Builds a Leading Enterprise Worth Billions of Hong Kong Dollars
Leslie Cheung is known as the "Copper Foil King" and the "Chemical King" in the outside world. What experiences did he go through from being a "worker" in the past to building Kingboard Holdings Limited, a leading copper - clad laminate company?
In the 1950s, Leslie Cheung was born into an ordinary family. After graduating from middle school, he went to work in a small factory in Hong Kong. Due to his inexperience as a young man, he almost got fired. Fearing unemployment, Leslie Cheung sincerely pleaded with the boss not to dismiss him at that time.
"There was no other way at that time, so I had to sincerely plead with the boss, hoping that he would not dismiss me. After this experience, I realized that it was very lucky to have a job, so I have worked very hard in my subsequent jobs." Leslie Cheung said in a later media interview.
Later, Leslie Cheung went to the American - funded company 3M and held various positions such as warehouse clerk, messenger, and salesperson. Here, he learned modern management experience.
Leslie Cheung's first pot of gold was earned by making price differences. At that time, Leslie Cheung found that there was a large price difference between importing industrial salt from the Chinese mainland and foreign countries. So he bought industrial salt in Guangzhou and resold it in Hong Kong, making a lot of profit. However, Leslie Cheung did not rely on this method to make a living all the time.
When he was a child, he accidentally learned about the internal structure of a semiconductor radio. Introduced by his teacher, he remembered the term "copper foil".
So after making money, in 1988, Leslie Cheung founded Kingboard Holdings Limited and started the business of copper - clad laminates. The company developed vigorously. With sufficient funds, Leslie Cheung successively invested in and built Kingboard Circular Economy Industrial Parks in Qingyuan, Fogang, Lianzhou and other places in Guangdong. With the establishment of more than 20 factories (companies) such as Kingboard Chemicals, Kingboard Industrial, Zhongxin Electronic Materials, Nuoxin Technology, Kewell Circuits, Kingboard Laminates, Kingboard Copper Foil, and Kingboard Glass Fibre, he established his leading position as the "Chemical King" in the industry.
In 1993, Leslie Cheung led Kingboard Holdings Limited to be successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, turning a small factory producing copper - clad laminates into a listed enterprise.
Leslie Cheung is also very good at capital operation. In December 1999, Kingboard Holdings Limited successfully spun off its subsidiary Kingboard Copper Foil and listed it on the Singapore Stock Exchange. In December 2004, Kingboard successfully acquired the listed company I - Tech and entered the printed circuit board field. In 2006, Kingboard Holdings Limited successfully spun off its copper - clad laminate business, and Kingboard Laminates Holdings Limited was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Leslie Cheung's Kingboard Holdings Limited has four listed enterprises.
However, Leslie Cheung encountered setbacks during the development process, such as in the real estate field.
According to media reports, since 2018, Kingboard Holdings Limited has repeatedly purchased US - dollar bonds of R&F Properties. By the end of 2023, the fair - value loss of the above - mentioned bonds was HK$2.167 billion. In addition, in December 2021, Kingboard Holdings Limited provided a HK$1.88 billion term loan to Country Garden. Due to the debt crisis of Country Garden, Kingboard Holdings Limited made a credit loss provision of HK$894 million for this loan in 2023.
In recent years, Kingboard Holdings Limited has gradually shrunk its real estate business. Leslie Cheung has publicly stated that the company will withdraw from the mainland real estate market and shift its focus to rental properties.
In the copper - clad laminate field, Leslie Cheung has bet on the main line of the AI era.
In the past, Kingboard Holdings Limited's copper - clad laminates were mainly concentrated in ordinary FR - 4 grade products, accounting for up to 80%, and were mainly used in the consumer electronics field. When the consumer electronics market was in a downturn, the performance of Kingboard Holdings Limited was not good. For example, in 2023, the turnover of the copper - clad laminate business decreased by 14%, and the profit shrank by 20%.
During the trough period, Leslie Cheung led the company to expand production against the trend and made great efforts to layout high - end copper - clad laminates (above M6 level) for high - multi - layer and high - density PCBs. Compared with low - end products, high - end products have more generous profits.
Leslie Cheung predicted in advance that the AI industry would drive a qualitative change in the demand for copper - clad laminates, enabling the company to stand out in the secondary market. From the beginning of 2026 to the close on June 26, the stock price of Kingboard Holdings Limited has cumulatively increased by 352.4%, with a total market value of more than HK$140 billion.
Behind the Increased Investment in AI
Declining Gross Margin and Increasing Short - Term Debt Repayment Pressure
Public information shows that the business scope of Kingboard Holdings Limited covers copper - clad laminates, printed circuit boards, chemical products, real estate and other businesses.
In 2025, benefiting from the upward trend of the copper - clad laminates and their upstream material products driven by artificial intelligence and the year - on - year growth of the profit of the investment business department, Kingboard Holdings Limited achieved double - growth in revenue and net profit. That is, last year, it achieved a revenue of RMB 40.98 billion, a year - on - year increase of 5.29%; and a net profit attributable to the parent company of RMB 3.976 billion, a year - on - year increase of 169.98%.
Currently, the outside world pays high attention to the copper - clad laminate and printed circuit board businesses of Kingboard Holdings Limited, mainly because they are closely related to AI.
In the copper - clad laminate field, Kingboard Holdings Limited predicts that high - quality copper - clad laminates with high performance, high reliability and high stability will become the mainstream demand in the future electronic market.
Currently, Kingboard Holdings Limited has developed HVLP3 copper foil for AI servers and ultra - thin VLP copper foil for IC packaging substrates. At the same time, two major projects of the company are expanding production capacity and are expected to be put into operation in mid - 2027, mainly producing high - end boards above M6 level and RTF and HVLP copper foils with high - frequency, high - speed and low - signal loss respectively.
In addition, Kingboard Holdings Limited has mastered the core technology of low - expansion - coefficient electronic glass fiber yarn and plans to increase the total number of special electronic glass fiber yarn kilns to twelve to further consolidate and improve the market share of high - end products.
In the printed circuit board field, Kingboard Holdings Limited plans to develop higher - layer multi - layer printed circuit boards and high - order high - density interconnect printed circuit boards. Recently, Kingboard Holdings Limited announced that it would sell 155 million shares of Kingboard Laminates Holdings Limited it held at a price of HK$76 per share, expecting to cash in HK$11.78 billion, and plans to use the funds to invest in the printed circuit board (PCB) business to improve the production capacity of multi - layer and high - density interconnect (HDI) products.
At the same time, Kingboard Holdings Limited has reserved new production technologies in fields such as 6G wireless communication, AI servers, low - orbit satellites, 4D imaging millimeter - wave radars, parts of high - order common control units for automobiles, high - voltage fast - charging for new - energy vehicles, and intelligent robots.
In addition, Kingboard Holdings Limited is actively "going global". To cooperate with the new production capacity of circuit board end - customers in Vietnam, the company has built a new printed circuit board factory in Bac Ninh Province, Vietnam, and the first phase is expected to be put into operation in the third quarter of 2026. The new printed circuit board project built by the company in Ayutthaya Province, Thailand, is expected to be completed in 2027. Kingboard Holdings Limited believes that the two factories can effectively meet the growing needs of overseas customers and strengthen industry penetration.
Kingboard Holdings Limited's increased investment in AI is a correct strategic move, aiming to embrace the AI era. At present, the high prosperity of the AI industrial chain has benefited Kingboard Holdings Limited, and the company has achieved a "Davis double - click" in terms of performance and stock price.
However, it should also be noted that Kingboard Holdings Limited faces challenges on the road of embracing AI and continuous expansion.
Firstly, Kingboard Holdings Limited has many competitors, and the competition pressure is not small. According to Prismark's statistical data, in 2024, the top five manufacturers in the global rigid copper - clad laminate market were Kingboard Chemicals (14.4%), Shengyi Technology (13.7%), Taiming Electronics (13.2%), Nan Ya Plastics (9.2%) and Panasonic (6.6%). Although Kingboard Holdings Limited ranks first in market share, the gap between it and Shengyi Technology, which ranks second, is not large, and there are many pursuing competitors behind.
Secondly, the company's profitability has weakened. From 2018 to 2021, the comprehensive gross margin of Kingboard Holdings Limited decreased from 33.16% to 19.71% overall. Against the background of performance growth in 2025, the company's comprehensive gross margin further decreased to 17.47%. Some people believe that the pressure on the gross margin last year was related to factors such as large - scale asset impairment in the real estate sector and rising costs.
Thirdly, the financial risk indicators have weakened, and the short - term debt repayment pressure has increased. At the end of 2025, the current ratio of Kingboard Holdings Limited decreased from 2.02 times in 2024 to 1.85 times, and the proportion of current liabilities to total liabilities increased from 59.04% to 67.35%. It is worth mentioning that the amount of cash and cash equivalents of the company at the end of 2025 was RMB 3.138 billion, while the amount of bank loans due within one year was as high as RMB 10.93 billion.
Overall, while enjoying the dividends of the AI era, Kingboard Holdings Limited also needs to pay attention to external competition risks and internal profitability and financial conditions. We will continue to pay attention to the future business performance of Kingboard Holdings Limited.
This article is from the WeChat official account “Delin Club” (ID: delinshe), author: Yang Wanli, published by 36Kr with authorization.