一根比头发丝还细的金属线 如何撑起同亚科技的“上市梦”？

This article provides a full overview of Tongya Technology, China’s leading domestic producer of ultra-fine precision cables, as it pursues an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Key takeaways are as follows:

1. Company background: Founded by two former executives of Japanese cable manufacturers, Tongya specializes in ultra-fine metal connecting wires with a minimum diameter of 0.008 millimeters. It ranks third globally and first domestically in market share. The company posted 303 million yuan in revenue in 2025, submitted its IPO prospectus to the HKEX in June 2026, and boasted a pre-IPO valuation of 1.965 billion yuan. In its early days, it overcame a foreign supply blockade to achieve domestic substitution and reached internationally leading technical standards.

2. Core current challenges: While Tongya’s 2025 revenue grew 47.1% year-over-year, its net profit growth plummeted from 31.3% in the prior year to just 12.3%. Gross margin declined 5.3 percentage points, and labor productivity dropped sharply following overly rapid headcount expansion. The share of high-margin products in its portfolio has fallen, rising raw material costs paired with price cuts to gain market share have squeezed profits, and operating cash flow turned negative twice in three years. The company paid out 5 million yuan in dividends shortly before its IPO filing, and revenue from its布局 in high-growth areas such as AI and robotics accounts for only 10% of total revenue, having yet to reach meaningful scale.

For brands in the precision electronic components space, this article outlines the following key insights:

1. Industry landscape and trends: The global ultra-fine cable conductor market is dominated by a duopoly of Japanese firms, which together control 64% of total market share, leaving substantial room for domestic substitution. Downstream demand is growing steadily; the global market is projected to post a 7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2025 to 2030, with emerging sectors including AI, robotics, brain-computer interfaces and low-altitude economy set to drive significant new demand.

2. Pricing and competition lessons: As a late-moving challenger, Tongya Technology gained market share through price cuts, but was unable to pass rigid raw material price increases downstream, resulting in direct profit erosion. Years of price cuts for its core high-margin products have hit profitability particularly hard.

3. Product R&D and structure takeaways: Ultra-fine products carry high technical barriers and maintain gross margins above 45%. However, lower-margin standard fine wires make up nearly 60% of Tongya’s total revenue, while the share of high-margin products continues to decline. Combined with elevated upfront costs driven by its custom-made business model, this has squeezed overall profitability. Brands need to optimize their product mix to balance scale growth and profitability.

For sellers in the electronic components sector, this article summarizes the following key opportunities, risks and actionable insights:

1. Market opportunities: Ultra-fine cables are core components for electronic hardware, serving a range of high-growth sectors including AI, humanoid robots, brain-computer interfaces and low-altitude economy. The global market is projected to grow from $4.8 billion in 2025 to $11.7 billion by 2035, offering substantial long-term growth room. The market was long monopolized by Japanese brands, leaving ample room for domestic sellers to enter via domestic substitution.

2. Core risk warnings: First, prices of upstream raw materials including copper, silver and tin continue rising, and late entrants typically have to cut prices to gain market share and struggle to pass higher costs downstream, which directly compresses profit margins. Second, customer concentration is high: more than 60% of revenue comes from customized orders, R&D and testing costs are upfront and non-reusable, and downstream customers continuously demand price cuts, leading to high uncertainty on return on investment and constraining new market expansion.

3. Actionable lessons: After facing foreign supply disruptions in its early days, Tongya persisted with in-house R&D for equipment and built its own supply chain, eventually breaking through technical barriers to secure certification from leading clients. This path of independent innovation is highly valuable reference for domestic component sellers.

For manufacturers of precision metal components, this article outlines the following key insights:

1. Production and technical requirements: For ultra-fine metal cables, smaller diameter translates to higher technical barriers in metallurgy, drawing, etching, welding and other processes. Tongya’s 0.008mm diameter product already reaches an internationally leading level. The high-end segment has long been monopolized by Japanese brands, and downstream demand for domestic substitution is clear. High-end products deliver gross margins above 45%, offering substantial profit room.

2. Business opportunities: Demand for ultra-fine cables is growing steadily from multiple downstream emerging sectors including AI, robotics, brain-computer interfaces, medical devices and new energy vehicles. The global market will more than double over the next decade, creating ample entry opportunities for production factories looking to transition into high-end product categories.

3. Development takeaways: After being cut off from foreign equipment and material suppliers in its early days, Tongya insisted on independent R&D of equipment and built its own supply chain, ultimately breaking through technical barriers. This proves that independent and controllable technology and supply chains are core competitiveness for high-end manufacturing factories. At the same time, manufacturers need to guard against labor productivity declines caused by overly rapid expansion, continuously optimize product structure, increase the share of high-margin products, and avoid the problem of stagnant profit growth amid scaling.

For service providers serving the electronics manufacturing industry, this article outlines the following key industry insights:

1. Industry development trends: The global ultra-fine cable conductor market continues expanding, with a projected 7% CAGR from 2025 to 2030, accelerating to 11.7% from 2030 to 2035. The trend toward domestic substitution is clear: leading domestic Chinese firms have already broken the Japanese monopoly and claimed third place globally, and the overall industry is in a phase of expansion and upgrading, creating abundant new market opportunities for service providers.

2. Core customer pain points: First, the supply of equipment and materials for high-end ultra-fine cable production was long controlled by foreign players, so domestic brands have strong demand for localized, independent and controllable equipment and material supporting services. Second, as upstream raw material prices continue to rise rigidly and companies cannot pass higher costs downstream, there is strong demand for raw material cost hedging and supply chain management services. Third, given the high proportion of customized orders and high upfront R&D costs, there is high demand for production and R&D services that reduce costs and improve efficiency. Fourth, as companies generally expand into emerging sectors, they need certification and connection services to access downstream emerging clients.

Leading domestic Chinese companies have already broken through technical barriers and are currently in a phase of rapid expansion, creating robust demand for a wide range of services.

For capital market platforms and industrial investment platforms, this article outlines the following key insights:

1. Corporate demand: Domestic high-end manufacturing firms that have completed technical breakthroughs require large amounts of capital to expand production capacity and develop new emerging businesses. Tongya Technology’s decision to pursue a Hong Kong IPO amid tight operating cash flow reflects the strong financing demand from domestic substitution sector companies for capital market platforms.

2. Investment project reference: The ultra-fine cable sector aligns with key investment themes of domestic substitution, high-end manufacturing and exposure to high-growth emerging sectors, making it highly attractive for investment. The leading domestic player has already claimed third place globally and retains substantial room for growth, though underlying operational risks require close attention.

3. Operations and risk mitigation: Projects in this sector often see a gap between growth narratives and actual performance. For Tongya, emerging high-growth sectors account for only 10% of its revenue, and it faces issues including stagnant profit growth, falling labor productivity, profit squeezed by both upstream and downstream players, volatile operating cash flow, and large dividend payments despite cash shortages. Platforms need to fully disclose these risks during investment promotion and operation, track the progress of companies’ emerging business development, and pay close attention to the sustainability of earnings growth.

For researchers of the high-end manufacturing industry, this article offers the following key research insights on the development of domestic substitution sector companies:

1. New industry trends: Substantial progress in domestic substitution has been achieved in the high-end precision electronic components sector: Chinese companies now hold 15.5% of the global market share and rank third globally, breaking the long-term monopoly of Japanese firms. Leading domestic players have already begun positioning in emerging downstream sectors including AI, robotics and low-altitude economy to expand new product categories, and the entire industry is upgrading toward higher-end offerings.

2. New industry challenges: When late-entrant domestic companies compete for market share, they generally face a market structure where incumbent oligopolies control pricing power, forcing them to win orders via price cuts. Combined with rising upstream raw material costs, profits get squeezed from both sides. Most players operate on a high-customization model with high customer concentration, leading to high upfront R&D costs and uncertain return on investment, which constrains new market expansion. Many companies build growth narratives around popular sectors, but emerging businesses contribute very little actual revenue, leaving earnings without new support.

3. Research implications: After domestic substitution players complete technical breakthroughs, how to balance market share expansion and profit growth, and how to cultivate emerging businesses to unlock a second growth curve, are core questions that deserve in-depth exploration in research on domestic substitution business models.