Ibiden Co, the dominant supplier of chip package substrates used in Nvidia Corp’s cutting-edge semiconductors, might need to dial up the pace of production capacity increases to keep up with demand, company CEO Koji Kawashima said.
Sales of the 112-year-old company’s artificial intelligence (AI)-use substrates are robust, with customers buying up all that Ibiden has, Kawashima said.
That demand is likely to last at least through next year, he added.
Photo: Bloomberg
Ibiden is building a new substrate factory in Gifu Prefecture, Japan, which is expected to go online at 25 percent production capacity around the last quarter of next year before reaching 50 percent by March 2026.
However, that might not be enough, Kawashima said.
The company is in talks about when to get the remaining 50 percent capacity online, he said in an interview.
“Our customers have concerns,” he said. “We’re already being asked about our next investment and the next capacity expansion.”
Ibiden’s clients include Intel Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Samsung Electronics Co and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), as well as Nvidia. Many of them consult with the Japanese company early in product development, because the substrates — which help transmit signals from semiconductors to the circuit board — need to be tailored for each chip. Substrates must be made to withstand the heat of an Nvidia graphics processing unit to form an AI chip package complete with components such as memory.
Intel once comprised about 70 percent to 80 percent of Ibiden’s revenue from chip package substrates. That fell to about 30 percent in the fiscal year ended March, as the US chipmaker struggled to execute a turnaround that recently saw the ousting of its CEO Pat Gelsinger.
In October, Ibiden revised down its profit outlook after sluggish demand for components used in general purpose servers outweighed AI server-related growth. While noting it was important to expand business with chipmakers other than Intel, Kawashima said he was confident Intel would bounce back.
“Intel’s overall technology is very sophisticated,” he said. “Intel raised us up and opened so many doors. Our relationship with Intel will always be our treasure, and Intel will forever be an important customer.”
With many foreign chipmakers unwilling to transfer their latest technology to the US, Intel is likely to play a key role in Washington’s goal to boost cutting-edge semiconductor production capabilities at home, Kawashima said.
Ibiden has no manufacturing facilities in the US.
It has no plans to build any due to the cost of labor and logistics, irrespective of US president-elect Donald Trump’s plans to impose tariffs on a wide range of products, Kawashima said.
All of Nvidia’s AI semiconductors now use Ibiden’s substrates, although Taiwanese rivals such as Unimicron Technology Corp (欣興電子) are eyeing the field. However, it would not be easy to break Ibiden’s position as dominant supplier, Toyo Securities Co analyst Hideki Yasuda said.
“Nvidia’s AI chips need sophisticated substrates, and Ibiden is the only one that can mass produce them at a good production yield,” he said. “Taiwanese competitors won’t be able to take Ibiden’s share away by much.”
AI semiconductors earn more than 15 percent of Ibiden’s sales of about ￥370 billion (US$2.35 billion), with that percentage expected to rise further.
Nvidia said it has begun full production of its next-generation Blackwell chips after encountering some initial technical challenges.
JITTERS: Nexperia has a 20 percent market share for chips powering simpler features such as window controls, and changing supply chains could take years European carmakers are looking into ways to scratch components made with parts from China, spooked by deepening geopolitical spats playing out through chipmaker Nexperia BV and Beijing’s export controls on rare earths. To protect operations from trade ructions, several automakers are pushing major suppliers to find permanent alternatives to Chinese semiconductors, people familiar with the matter said. The industry is considering broader changes to its supply chain to adapt to shifting geopolitics, Europe’s main suppliers lobby CLEPA head Matthias Zink said. “We had some indications already — questions like: ‘How can you supply me without this dependency on China?’” Zink, who also
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) received about NT$147 billion (US$4.71 billion) in subsidies from the US, Japanese, German and Chinese governments over the past two years for its global expansion. Financial data compiled by the world’s largest contract chipmaker showed the company secured NT$4.77 billion in subsidies from the governments in the third quarter, bringing the total for the first three quarters of the year to about NT$71.9 billion. Along with the NT$75.16 billion in financial aid TSMC received last year, the chipmaker obtained NT$147 billion in subsidies in almost two years, the data showed. The subsidies received by its subsidiaries —
At least US$50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: That is the king’s ransom paid two weeks ago to militants linked to al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law. Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of “economic jihad.” Its goal: Oust the junta, which has struggled to contain Mali’s decade-long insurgency since taking power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, by scaring away investors and paralyzing the west African country’s economy.
RE100 INITIATIVE: Exporters need sufficient supplies of renewable energy to meet their global commitments and remain competitive, the economics ministry said Local export-oriented manufacturers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), require sufficient supplies of green energy to maintain their competitiveness and regulations already ensure that renewable energy development adheres to environmental protection principles, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday, as the legislature imposed further restrictions on solar panel installations. The opposition-led Legislative Yuan yesterday passed third readings to proposed amendments to three acts — the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法), the Act for the Development of Tourism (發展觀光條例) and the Geology Act (地質法) — which would largely prohibit the construction of solar panels in some areas. The amendments stipulate that ground-mounted solar
RSS