Behind the Micro and Nvidia disputes, why does the Japanese market move into the AI ​​market?

The global AI hot trend continues to rise, and a well-known material: low-heat expansion (CTE) glass fiber cloth has become a key raw material for major technological giants to compete for. This material is exclusively produced by Nittobo in Japan and is very important for the packaging and stability of AI server chips.

What is T-glass? The core material of stable AI chips

T-glass is a glass cloth with high precision and high dimensional stability. It can effectively prevent the substrate from bending during advanced packaging and greatly improve the yield and heat dissipation efficiency of AI chips. This material is widely used in high-level chip loading and server motherboards, and is the basis for realizing high-speed data transfer and stable computing.

At present, Nippon is the only company in the world that can produce the highest level of T-glass stably, with supply targets covering AI giants such as Nvidia, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon.

Demand soared, and the production capacity was tight, and the major factories scheduling the materials

Supply link information pointed out that since the second half of 2023, the T-glass production capacity in Japan has continued to be fully loaded. PCBs and chip loading manufacturers including Xingxing Electronics, AT&S, Jingsai Technology and other large-scale PCBs and chip loading companies have visited Jidong many times, hoping to expand the purchase allocation, but due to scarce resources, most companies can only be left to wait for delivery.

Although Dongban announced that it will invest 80 billion Japanese dollar to expand its construction lines in Japan and Taiwan, expanding its semiconductor material production capacity in Japan and Taiwan, the goal is to double its production capacity in Taiwan by March 2028.

Taiwan's glass is chasing quickly and is expected to enter the AI ​​supply chain

Looking at the market gap that is occupied by Japan East, Taiwan Glass Company (Taiwan Glass) urgently started the transformation plan of the production line, and mass production of T-glass materials will be as early as the end of the year. Currently, Taiwan glass samples have entered the certification process. The first stage of testing will be conducted by the CCL manufacturer, followed by the chip loading factory, and finally will be certified by the end customers such as Nvidia and AMD.

People familiar with the matter pointed out: "Nvidia is very concerned about supply bottles. Once Taiwan-Glass passes certification, the market pattern will inevitably change."

Nvidia and others court niche Japanese supplier to ease AI bottlenecks