As chip prices rise, E Ink is no longer Boox's biggest supplier
The e-paper device maker says it stockpiled chips as prices rose, while its operating cash flow turned negative.
A chip distributor overtook screen maker E Ink as the largest supplier to Onyx International (文石), the Guangzhou maker of Boox e-paper devices, in the first half of 2026, according to its second application for a Hong Kong listing filed last month. E Ink had been its largest supplier in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
The application proof shows an unnamed chip distributor selling Onyx 166.4 million yuan (about US$24.9 million) in the half, 23.4% of its purchases. E Ink came second, with 91.6 million yuan (about US$13.7 million), or 12.9%, down from 29.1% in 2023. Four chip sellers among its five largest suppliers took more than 40% of its purchases, based on figures in the filing.
By our reading, the shift is about chips, not screens. E Ink was the only screen maker among the five, Onyx says its average screen price stayed generally stable, and its directors say it is "likely to be difficult" to buy e-ink screens from other suppliers. E Ink also became a 4.9% shareholder in Onyx in 2024, through a subsidiary.
Onyx says chip prices began rising in the second half of 2025, so it expanded its chip buying that year. Raw materials on hand, which the filing says include screens as well as chips, rose to 564.7 million yuan (about US$84.7 million) at the end of June 2026, more than three times the level at the end of 2023, based on figures in the filing. In the first half, it resold 55.7 million yuan (about US$8.4 million) of surplus chips.
Its devices are shifting too. Worldwide, first-half sales of Boox e-paper tablets, the filing's term for its e-readers, fell 42.8% from a year earlier to 116,568 units, while e-notes, built for handwriting, rose 69.3% to 205,267. In China's online market, research firm Runto (洛图科技) says first-half sales of e-readers rose 22.3% from a year earlier, while office notebooks (办公本), the Runto category nearest to e-notes, fell 30.5%.
Sources: Onyx International 廣州文石信息科技 (HKEX application proof), 洛图科技 Runto (OFweek Display), 识礁Farsight (OFweek Display), BOOX Shop, Note Air6 C product page
Editor: Ian Lamont
