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[Oct 22] Semiconductor News Briefing — AI servers squeeze PCB material supply

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Key takeaways

  • Taiwanese laminate maker ITEQ plans to lift monthly CCL capacity to 9.15 million sheets by 2029, while T-glass fiber stays tight until Nittobo's expansion arrives.
  • TPCA expects Taiwan's PCB output to reach NT$1.1365 trillion this year, topping NT$1 trillion for the first time.
  • CXMT plans server DDR5 modules built on 4F² DRAM by year-end, and Sony and TSMC are forming an image sensor joint venture in Kumamoto.

1. ITEQ to lift CCL capacity to 9.15 million sheets a month by 2029 as T-glass stays tight

Chen Chin-tsai, chairman of Taiwanese copper-clad laminate (CCL) maker ITEQ, said the group plans to raise monthly CCL capacity from 5.7 million sheets at the end of 2026 to 6.3 million in 2027, 8.25 million in 2028 and 9.15 million in 2029. That is roughly a 60% increase over three years, driven mainly by expansions in Thailand and Wuxi, China.

Meanwhile, T-glass, a specialty glass fiber used in high-performance substrates, is effectively dominated by Japan's Nittobo. Nittobo is doubling its capacity, but new supply is not expected to arrive in volume until 2027 or later.

Why it matters: AI server boards have many layers and need low signal loss, so they consume large amounts of premium materials. Bottlenecks are showing up first in these upstream materials rather than in finished boards.

  • CCL: Copper-clad laminate: an insulating sheet of glass fiber and resin bonded to copper foil, the base material of circuit boards.
  • T-glass: A specialty glass fiber with very low thermal expansion, used to keep advanced chip substrates from warping.

2. Taiwan's PCB output set to top NT$1 trillion for the first time

The Taiwan Printed Circuit Association (TPCA) expects Taiwanese PCB makers' combined domestic and overseas output to reach NT$1.1365 trillion in 2026, up 24.2% from last year and above NT$1 trillion for the first time. The figure is an upgrade from the forecast it issued in June.

Second-half output is projected at NT$611.8 billion, up 24.5%. Growth is being led by higher-value products such as high-layer-count AI server boards, IC substrates and HDI boards.

Why it matters: Taiwan sits at the center of global PCB supply, so the numbers show how widely AI server spending is spreading through the component industry.

  • HDI: High-density interconnect: boards that pack many circuits into a small area using very fine lines and micro-holes.

3. CXMT aims to unveil 4F² DRAM-based server DDR5 by year-end

Cao Kanyu, president of Chinese memory maker CXMT, said at a Shanghai event on October 10 that the company plans to launch a server DDR5 RDIMM using a 4F² DRAM structure before the end of the year. The design reportedly also uses hybrid bonding, building the memory cells and the peripheral circuits separately and then joining them.

At the same process dimension, a 4F² layout can shrink cell area by about a third versus today's 6F². Speed, capacity and yield figures were not disclosed, and the industry views the year-end target as quite aggressive.

Why it matters: Samsung expects to mass-produce 4F² products around 2028, so CXMT would be first to commercialize the new DRAM structure if it hits its schedule. Its actual high-volume capability remains to be seen.

  • 4F²: A measure of the area each DRAM cell occupies; a smaller number means more cells fit in the same space.
  • Hybrid bonding: A technique that joins two wafers or chips by bonding copper pads directly, without solder bumps, for very dense connections.

4. Sony and TSMC form image sensor joint venture in Kumamoto

TSMC and Sony Semiconductor Solutions have signed a definitive agreement to set up a joint venture, Advanced Vision Semiconductor Manufacturing, in Koshi, Kumamoto Prefecture. The venture is scheduled to begin commercial production in 2029, with Sony as the majority shareholder in charge of management.

Reports put the total investment at ¥747 billion, with Sony contributing about ¥465 billion and TSMC about ¥282 billion. The venture will use Sony's recently completed Koshi plant, and spending will be phased in according to market conditions.

Why it matters: Sony keeps control of design and management while sharing part of manufacturing with TSMC, easing the burden of heavy capital spending.

  • Image sensor: A chip that converts light entering a camera into electrical signals to create photos and video.

5. ESMT revenue surges as specialty memory prices keep climbing

Based on its monthly sales, Taiwanese specialty memory maker ESMT's third-quarter revenue totaled about NT$22.15 billion, up 58.8% from the second quarter and more than six times the year-earlier level. September revenue alone was up 470% year on year.

The company said shortages of specialty memory such as DDR2 and DDR3 are unlikely to ease this year and that price increases are continuing. Shipment growth has been limited, so the gains are coming mainly from higher prices.

Why it matters: As major memory makers concentrate capacity on HBM and the latest DRAM, supply of older and specialty memory is shrinking and prices are rising sharply.

  • Specialty memory: Older-standard or low-capacity memory used in appliances, networking gear and industrial equipment.

6. Micron's Taoyuan union in Taiwan wins the right to strike

The union at Micron's Taoyuan plant in Taiwan announced on October 7 that a member vote had given it the legal right to strike. Of 2,258 members, 2,012 voted and 1,994 were in favor. The vote followed two failed mediation rounds in September, and the union is seeking a permanent profit-sharing scheme that would set aside 15% of profit in place of the current bonus system.

No strike date has been set. The union at Micron's Taichung plant is pursuing its own mediation with the company, and Micron said it will keep talking with its unions.

Why it matters: Micron employs about 15,000 people in Taiwan, and the two unions represent more than 80% of them. With memory makers posting record profits, labor tensions have become a new variable for Taiwan's chip supply chain.

7. Zhen Ding shows 34-layer AI server board and 1.6T optical module substrates

Zhen Ding, Taiwan's largest PCB maker, showed boards for 800G and 1.6T optical transceiver modules and XPO/NPO applications at SEMICON Taiwan 2026, along with high-layer AI server boards of up to 34 layers.

The company is pursuing a One ZDT strategy of supplying everything from flexible boards and HDI to high-layer server boards and advanced IC substrates. It expects server and optical module revenue to more than double in 2026 and IC substrate revenue to grow by more than 70%.

Why it matters: As GPU interconnect speeds rise in AI data centers, demand is growing both for higher-layer server boards and for optical communication parts.

  • 1.6T optical module: A data center component that sends and receives 1.6 terabits per second as light signals.

8. Taller AI server boards drive demand for backdrilling equipment

High-end AI server boards have grown from 12-20 layers to 28-46 layers, and some now need more than 6,000 backdrilled holes per board. Because the boards are harder and thicker, the number of holes a single drill bit can make has fallen from about 3,000 to around 600.

Taiwanese toolmaker Tongtai said AI server PCB demand has lifted orders for its drilling machines, with about 70% of its electronics equipment orders coming from the AI server supply chain. Ta Liang's sales of high-precision backdrilling equipment are also rising sharply year after year.

Why it matters: At higher signal speeds, leftover copper stubs create noise, so precisely removing them has become critical to board quality.

  • Backdrilling: Drilling out the unused copper portion of a board's vertical connections from the back side to reduce high-speed signal distortion.

9. Daeduck Electronics joins next-gen packaging race with ceramic core substrate

Daeduck Electronics showed a 100×100mm ceramic core substrate at KPCA Show 2026 in September. By the company's figures, the ceramic core's stiffness (Young's modulus) is 251GPa versus 64-73GPa for glass cores, and its thermal conductivity of 24.5W/mK far exceeds glass at 0.9-1.2W/mK.

Actual heat dissipation in a package also depends on the chip and substrate design and the bonding method, so material figures alone do not settle performance. Ceramic core substrates are still in development, and Japan's Kyocera is working in the same area.

Why it matters: As AI chip packages grow, keeping substrates from warping and drawing heat away has become critical, and ceramic is emerging as an alternative to glass.

  • Core substrate: The rigid center layer of a chip substrate that serves as its backbone, with wiring layers built above and below.

Sources

Compiled by Bits & Bites from public reporting. Not investment advice.

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