Xu Meihua, presidenta de Hui Lian Electronics: La adquisición de Xinrui Corporation es una oportunidad estratégica; en tres años, se posicionará en la primera fila mundial de agujas de perforación de PCB AI | Entrevista exclusiva

China Business Network (CBN) March 30 report (reporter Fang Yanbo) “The explosion of the AI industry has brought the PCB industry a new round of a golden era. And as the core consumable of high-end circuit boards, PCB drill bits are becoming the key track in this transformation.” Ms. Xu Meihua, Chairwoman of Xinxiang Huilian Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. (abbreviated as “Huilian Electronic”), said in an exclusive interview with China Business Network (CBN).

As a national-level specialized and innovative enterprise focusing on PCB drill bits and precision cutting tools, Huilian Electronic itself has also attracted the attention of capital markets. Recently, a domestic leader in the field of cemented carbides and tools—Xinrui Co., Ltd. (688257.SH)—plans to invest about RMB 700 million to acquire Huilian Electronic and its related companies, bringing this “small giant” that has been deeply cultivating the PCB industry for 20 years into a new stage of development.

Xu Meihua said that with the backing of Xinrui Co., Ltd., Huilian Electronic has officially shifted from the “steady development” stage to the “high-quality accelerated development” stage. “Xinrui Co., Ltd. and Huilian Electronic are highly complementary to each other. This cooperation not only brings us stronger capital strength and a broader platform, but also gives us more confidence in high-end product R&D, capacity expansion, and market expansion. We strive to achieve the capability of producing 100 million PCB drill bits per month within three years, and make Huilian the global first-tier company in the AI PCB drill bit field.”

AI is “drilled out”

The AI industry’s computing power race ultimately all lands on one-by-one micron-level PCB drill bits. As computing power evolves, the PCB drill bit industry is ushering in unprecedented development opportunities.

Xu Meihua said frankly that, on the one hand, AI servers have greatly increased performance requirements for PCBs, raising the bar for drill bit precision and compatibility to a new level; on the other hand, AI PCBs generally use high-hardness base materials, making processing as challenging as “drilling reinforced glass,” and the consumption of drill bits has exploded by dozens of times.

More importantly, the AI industry’s demand for ultra-small diameter and ultra-high aspect ratio drill bits has become the mainstream in the industry. Drill bits with a 0.2mm micro diameter and an aspect ratio of more than 40 times have become standard for high-end AI PCBs. This technical requirement has significantly raised the technical barriers in the PCB drill bit industry, and has also pushed companies with high-end drill bit R&D and mass production capabilities to stand at the industry’s tipping point.

In Xu Meihua’s view, the development of the AI industry has completely opened up the market space for the PCB drill bit industry. From material upgrades to process innovation, from a surge in demand to technical upgrades, PCB drill bits are no longer simply processing consumables, but have become a core link that determines the manufacturing efficiency and yield of AI hardware. Whoever can master the core technologies and mass production capabilities of high-end AI PCB drill bits can seize the core discourse power in the precision cutting tools track of the PCB industry in the AI era. This is also the fundamental reason why Huilian Electronic focuses on AI PCB drill bits and strives with full effort to reach the first tier of the industry.

Discussing the acquisition

From Xu Meihua’s introduction, the reporter from China Business Network saw that this acquisition of Huilian Electronic by Xinrui Co., Ltd. is not a simple capital move, but a deep integration and advantage complementarity along the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, becoming a milestone in Huilian Electronic’s development history.

Xu Meihua acknowledged that “Huilian Electronic has been deeply engaged in the PCB drill bit and precision cutting tool industry for many years, forming solid accumulation in manufacturing processes, technical R&D, and customer channels. However, there is still room for further improvement in terms of the company’s scale expansion, high-end raw material layout, and capital market enablement, and this is precisely Xinrui Co., Ltd.’s core advantage.”

As a domestic leading enterprise in cemented carbides and tools, Xinrui Co., Ltd. has strong capabilities in upstream material resources, industrial chain integration, and capital operations for cemented carbides. With such, both sides have a solid foundation for industrial synergy.

“After the acquisition, Huilian Electronic obtained stronger capital support and was integrated into a more complete industrial chain system. Xinrui Co., Ltd.’s upstream material resources can solve the core problem of supplying high-end raw materials for us, and its capital market platform also gives our development vision broader space.” Xu Meihua said. This synergy enables Huilian Electronic to break away from the previous rolling development model that relied on its own accumulation, allowing it to take bigger steps in high-end R&D and capacity layout.

According to information, Huilian Electronic not only masters the full set of core processes for PCB drill bits, but more importantly, Huilian Electronic’s key equipment such as sintering furnaces, grinding machines, and coating equipment has been developed and manufactured in-house. This not only builds its deep technical moat, but in the future will also become a “technology engine” to empower Xinrui Co., Ltd.’s existing cemented carbides and tools business. After synergy, both sides are expected to form unique advantages in cost reduction and efficiency improvement, process breakthroughs, and rapid response—achieving end-to-end control from “materials + equipment + cemented carbides and tools products,” and realizing an industry competition advantage of “1+1>2.”

(Source of image: Provided by interviewee) “The acquisition between Xinrui Co., Ltd. and Huilian Electronic has shown us signals of supply chain upgrading.” A relevant person in charge at a certain leading PCB manufacturer said, “Previously, high-end PCB drill bits have always faced a series of problems such as insufficient capacity, slow response, and product quality stability. After this acquisition, Xinrui’s upstream material advantages will help solve the consistency problem of drill bit substrates, and Huilian’s in-house developed equipment can quickly respond to and adapt to downstream demand. The collective effort formed by both sides is worth looking forward to.”

Technology + in-house developed equipment builds core competitiveness

For Huilian Electronic to become the acquisition target of Xinrui Co., Ltd., its technological hard strength is the core confidence. As a national-level specialized and innovative enterprise, Huilian Electronic has already accumulated deep technical expertise in the PCB drill bit field. It is reported that Huilian Electronic has currently achieved stable mass production of PCB drill bits with 0.2mm micro diameters and ultra-high aspect ratios of over 40 times, and its AI PCB drill bit technology is at the forefront of the industry.

In Xu Meihua’s view, behind technical breakthroughs there is talent support. Huilian Electronic has a core technical team composed of more than 30 professional senior engineers. The average work experience of team members in the PCB cutting tool industry exceeds 20 years, which is also the bottom-layer support for the company’s continuous breakthroughs in high-end products. “Our team understands processes, understands equipment, and understands applications. You could say we are one of the most professional technical teams in the market that understands PCB cutting tools the best.” Xu Meihua said confidently.

At the same time, Huilian Electronic has also built competition barriers that are difficult to replicate in the industry by in-house developing and manufacturing core production equipment.

Xu Meihua introduced that in 2018 Huilian Electronic successfully acquired Xiamen Tungsten Industry (Xiamen Jingu) PCB business division and established Xiamen Honglu Lianchuang Tools Co., Ltd. This strategic integration deeply merged Jingu’s accumulation in PCB precision processing with Huilian’s scale-based manufacturing capability. This enables Huilian to reach industry-leading levels in production efficiency, first-pass yield, and product quality for PCB drill bits.

Currently, Huilian Electronic has achieved autonomous R&D and mass production of key production equipment. Among them, the PCB drill bit step-difference grinding machines, the multi-station groove-slotting and grinding machines with the largest market usage at 20-30 times diameter, and the multi-station groove-slotting and grinding machines used to produce 50 times diameter high-end cutting tools have all been mass-produced, significantly shortening the capacity ramp-up cycle. In terms of coating equipment, the diamond coating furnace for PCB cutting tools has been optimized and upgraded based on high-end coating furnace equipment in Europe: capacity increases by 2-3 times, coating thickness uniformity ≤2um, reaching the world’s top first-tier level, and multiple machines have also been put into operation. In addition, high value-added equipment developed and manufactured in-house—such as the 6MPa pressure sintering furnace, the 4-axis CNC centerless grinding machine, and DG5 automatic step-difference machine—has also been put into batch use.

Three-year plan, sprint for the first tier

Relying on the development opportunities brought by the acquisition, Huilian Electronic is currently accelerating the advancement of capacity layout and building two major production bases in Henan Xinxiang and Xiamen. Xu Meihua said that the two bases have clear positioning and different focuses. The Henan Xinxiang base leverages scale manufacturing advantages, focusing on the production of mature products such as mid and large drill bits and conventional cutting tools, to ensure stable supply to the market. The Xiamen base, in contrast, is positioned for high-end R&D and intelligent manufacturing as its core, focusing on R&D and production of high-end PCB drill bits and AI PCB drill bits. Relying on coastal location advantages, it is close to high-end customer clusters, enabling fast landing of technological innovations and efficient responses to market demand.

At present, construction of the two bases’ factory buildings, procurement of equipment, and installation and commissioning of production lines are being carried out in an orderly manner, and some production lines have entered trial production. “Including multi-station groove-slotting and grinding machines and grinders, among others, we plan to add 260 machines this year, 400 machines in 2027, and 650 machines in the 3rd year. By fully leveraging the process advantages of our in-house developed grinding machines and diamond coating equipment, and improving automation levels, we will greatly enhance the capacity of AI PCB drill bits, quickly respond to the urgent market demand for 50 times diameter high-end drill bits, and achieve a concentrated release of high-end capacity.” Xu Meihua said.

Worth noting is that Huilian Electronic has also formulated clear three-year stepped capacity targets for PCB drill bits. Xu Meihua said the company plans to achieve a PCB drill bit capacity of 20 million pieces per month by the end of 2026, increase it to 50 million pieces per month in 2027, and reach 100 million pieces per month by 2028.

“As the above capacity targets are gradually achieved, Huilian Electronic will achieve the goal of entering the global first-tier group in the PCB drill bit field. It will not only meet the demand of domestic high-end customers, but also further open up international markets.” Xu Meihua added.

A huge amount of information and precise interpretation—available in the Sina Finance APP