In recent years, the continuous outburst of AI computing power demand has opened up new growth space for the transformer industry. As the "power heart", transformers are changing from the behind - the - scenes "supporting role" in power grid construction to the indispensable "main character" that affects the expansion of global AI computing power.

Recently, the reporter of the Shanghai Stock Exchange visited Jiangxi Transformer Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jiangxi Transformer Technology"). In the production workshop, each production line such as winding, iron core assembly, insulation treatment, and overall assembly is operating in an orderly manner, and workers are speeding up the assembly and inspection of transformers of various specifications, which will be exported to Southeast Asia, Africa, North America and other regions.

"To ensure order delivery, the workshop production has not stopped since the third day of the first lunar month," said Qin Xiaoling, the person in charge of the strategic planning department of Jiangzhuan Technology, to the reporter. At present, the majority of the equipment in production are supplied to overseas projects under construction.

Jiangbian Technology is a microcosm of the current transformer enterprises going global. By sorting out the movements of industry listed companies, it can be seen that the overseas orders of enterprises such as Special Transformer Electric, China West Electric, and Jinpan Technology have all shown explosive growth, and the order area covers Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the United States, Africa.

The interviewees generally believe that the transformer industry is experiencing a long-term upswing driven by multiple factors, such as the global grid aging and renovation, the transformation and upgrading of new energy, and the construction of AI computing power centers. Overseas business will become the core growth engine.

Corporate overseas orders surge

Exports achieve "both quantity and price rise"

"The company has always had an export business, but the real inflection point came in 2023," said Chen Yifang, assistant general manager of Jiangbian Technology and general manager of the overseas marketing center, telling reporters that before 2023, the company's delivery of overseas equipment accounted for only 20% to 30% of the total, and then it continued to grow. By 2026, the amount of overseas equipment shipped in the pipeline orders had exceeded 600 million RMB.

This trend has also been confirmed at the industry level. Samsung Electronics said that since 2023, the company has been winning a series of overseas transformer orders in Greece, Mexico, Brazil, Hungary, the Netherlands, and other countries. China West Electric said that the company's orders are full, the delivery volume is steadily increasing, and in the first quarter of 2026, the company won transformer orders in Paraguay, Canada, Puerto Rico, and other places, further expanding the overseas market.

As a leading enterprise in the industry, TBEA has signed a total of $1.24 billion in international transmission and transformation projects in the first three quarters of 2025, a year-on-year increase of more than 80%. In August 2025, the company announced that it had won a contract worth $2.4 billion from Saudi Power Company, with the main products being ultra-high voltage and high-voltage power transformers and reactors.

General Manager Zong Yanmin of TBEA stated at the earnings call recently that the company's transmission and transformation single product received about $621 million in international orders in the first quarter of 2026, a year-on-year increase of about 30%. The Saudi project has started to match specific orders, and currently, 94 million US dollars have been matched.

Behind the surge in orders is the concentrated release of multiple global demands. According to a research report from Cai Xin Securities, with the rapid growth of global power construction expenditure, transformers, as typical grid equipment, have strong overseas demand. TBEA stated that the demand for the transformation of old power grids in Europe and the United States and the transmission of new energy in emerging markets is strong, and the global power grid investment scale is expanding. The transmission and transformation business has welcomed a continuous and favorable development opportunity.

"Domestic transformers are in short supply and delivery is slow, failing to keep up with the surge in market demand," said Chen Yifang. Against this backdrop, transformer exports have achieved " volume and price increase". Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that in 2025, the total value of transformer exports from China exceeded 64.6 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of nearly 36%; the average price of a single exported transformer reached 205,000 RMB, an increase of about one-third year-on-year.

Orders are consolidating at the top

The high-end share continues to rise

It is known that the current transformer going to sea shows the characteristics of concentration to leading enterprises and high-end products.

"Transformer production cannot be fully automated, and the process of winding coils and other manufacturing stages still highly relies on the experience and craftsmanship of skilled workers," said a person in charge of a listed company in the industry. The production characteristics that require complex processes and strict quality inspections make it difficult for some small and medium-sized enterprises to achieve rapid expansion.

In addition, the improvement of overseas customers' requirements for corporate qualifications, product quality and after-sales service has further raised the threshold for market access. Against this backdrop, some transformer enterprises that rely on OEM and produce mid- and low-end products are under pressure, and orders are accelerating towards the top enterprises that have the advantage of the industrial chain.

Yang Runsi, the chief analyst of Guosheng Securities in the power equipment and new energy sector, said that leading transformer companies have been landing large orders frequently. Not only has the number of orders increased significantly, but the order structure has also shifted towards high-end and high-value-added products, including large power transformers for ultra-high voltage transmission projects and new products customized for artificial intelligence data centers.

Take Jinpan Technology as an example. In the first quarter of 2026, the company achieved sales revenue of 383 million RMB in the data center field, a year-on-year increase of 103.77%; the data center field achieved sales orders of 1.735 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 278.45%. The orders in hand were 3.763 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 116.66%.

"The demand for AI computing power is driving the expansion of data centers, and the construction of data centers and the process of power supply are expected to accelerate," said Jindan Technology. The company's transformer series products, with their low loss, strong overload capacity, high reliability, and ability to meet long-term load requirements, have successfully completed about 400 data center projects.

Some industry analysts believe that the transformer going global has entered a new stage from the past "low price and scale" to "technology and threshold". The leading enterprises with overseas certification qualifications, differentiated customization capabilities and global service networks are expected to maintain an advantage in the long term.

Challenges and opportunities coexist

The industry may welcome a long period of prosperity.

Despite strong growth momentum, transformer companies still face multiple challenges in going global. A person in charge of a transformer company told reporters that the overseas market access certification system is complicated, and the international certification has high thresholds, high costs and long cycles. Without stable orders to support, companies are cautious about making advance investments.

Faced with challenges, transformer companies are all focusing on technological innovation as the key to breaking the deadlock and accelerating the research and development layout in the field of solid-state transformers. On the evening of May 12th, Akeep Smart Power announced that it would invest 30 million RMB to cooperate with Starfall in the research and development of solid-state transformers. Jindan Technology also stated that the company has completed the design and production of a sample solid-state transformer and continues to iterate related technologies and products.

It is reported that companies and institutions generally hold an optimistic attitude towards the long-term prosperity cycle of the transformer industry. Ping An Securities research report states that China has a full-link advantage in the transformer industry chain, not only dominating the total production, but also achieving self-control in the raw material link. CITIC Construction Research Report believes that China's power equipment going global has entered a golden development period.

In response to the increasing demand for orders, the intelligent power equipment manufacturing project of Jiangbian Technology is currently under construction. "By expanding the factory, sorting and optimizing the production lines, and introducing automated production equipment, we can significantly enhance our overall manufacturing capabilities and process levels, completely breaking the original production capacity constraints," said Qin Xiaoling to the reporter. The company will also accelerate the pace of capital increase and production expansion, and deeply promote the intelligent transformation and upgrading of the factory area.

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