Unimicron has provided more detail on its ABF expansion plans, including expected capacity growth, funding and material supply. The chip substrate maker expects ABF capacity to grow 30% to 40% in 2027, with customers helping fund the expansion. Customer prepayments received in 2026 already exceed the funds needed to build its Kuangfu 2 and Yangmei 2 plants. The plants are scheduled to start production in 2027 and 2028, respectively. Unimicron says the raw-material supply shortfall has narrowed from about 15% to below 10% as alternative suppliers began deliveries. But larger, more complex AI substrates require more material, so supply could remain tight.

Summary of Unimicron ( – Initiate BUY, TP NT$1,820
77% EPS CAGR amid AI ABF supercycle • AI ABF substrate TAM set to hit US$13bn / $18bn in 2027E/28E (+100%/41% YoY)
• Unimicron poised to capture >30% share
• ABF capacity +18%/35% in 2026E/27E → ABF revenue +66%/90% to NT$105bn/199bn
• Supply shortage expected to persist into 2029 (18%/16% shortage in 27/28)
• Product mix shift (high-end ABF + mSAP + LPDDR) drives GPM to 28.8% / 41.7% / 44.6%
• EPS: NT$28.6 / 60.8 / 89.3 (vs consensus 25/55/80)
• TP based on 30x 2027E P/E #Unimicron# #ABF# #AI# #Semiconductors# #TaiwanTech#

Double booking is inevitable while AI supply remains this tight, says the president of Unimicron (3037 TT), according to DIGITIMES. Competition among AI customers and rival technologies, including TSMC’s CoWoS and Intel’s EMIB, pushes buyers to back more than one option, he says. That spreads risk from end customers to board makers, materials suppliers and equipment vendors. He argues that customers and suppliers need to share that risk. New PCB capacity takes 2.5 to 3 years or more to bring online, from construction to production, he says. Nvidia $NVDA said on Oct. 21 that it is supporting Unimicron’s expansion in Taiwan through a capacity reservation agreement. It expects agreements with Ibiden, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Unimicron to expand substrate capacity for its products 2.5-fold over three years.

$NVDA Locks In Advanced Substrate Capacity from Ibiden, SEMCO, and Unimicron as AI Demand Threatens Major Shortages by 2027 Capacity allocated to Nvidia is expected to increase 2.5x over the next three years, while Ibiden plans to triple its related capacity According to Prismark, the global packaging substrate market will grow from $14.9 billion in 2025 to $40.2 billion by 2030, with high-end flip-chip substrates reaching $27.3 billion at a 28.5% CAGR Demand for advanced AI substrate materials is expected to grow over 45% annually, potentially outstripping supply from 2027 Key bottlenecks include ABF films, low-CTE glass fiber, and core laminates, benefiting suppliers such as Ajinomoto, Nitto Boseki, Resonac, and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical

#NVIDIA#'s #GTCBerlin# keynote spotlights the supply chain: 17 DSX POD partners incl. Delta, Gigabyte, Pegatron, Wistron, plus 6 capacity suppliers (Unimicron, IBIDEN, SEM, Amkor, KYEC, SPIL). 💡More: 🔗 $NVDA $TSM $AMKR

$NVDA today announces capacity agreements with substrate, packaging, testing and optical engine suppliers. - Substrate agreements with Ibiden, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Unimicron to expand by 2.5x - $AMKR to increase advanced packaging capacity by more than 300% by the end of 2028, with a new $1.3B agreement - Multibillion dollar capacity reservation advance to support Ibiden's plant in Japan - "By 2028, production allocated to $NVDA is projected to account for a significant portion of Samsung Electro-Mechanics' total annual package substrate production capacity" - KYEC with $1.1B capacity reservation in advance - SPIL for optical engine capacity for CPO by 15x by H2 2027 and double that for 2028 Well, that's a lot of news. As Jensen Huang puts it: "Demand is extraordinary. Capacity is the constraint."

NVIDIA and six of our partners announce expansion of our global manufacturing capacity. Plans with Amkor Technology, IBIDEN, KYEC, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, SPIL, and Unimicron will expand capacity for chip components, packaging, testing, and optical engines – strengthening supply chain resiliency.

Only three PCB makers currently meet the requirements for 3.2T optical module boards, according to an industry source cited by DIGITIMES: Zhen Ding Tech (4958 TT), Unimicron (3037 TT) and Shennan Circuits (002916 CH). The modules are expected to begin shipping in 2028. Their boards require line widths and spacing of 10 to 15 microns, which could push production from mSAP to the more complex SAP process. Suppliers also need FC-BGA substrate capacity. More suppliers, including Compeq (2313 TT), can handle mSAP, which supports line widths and spacing of 12 to 25 microns. Boards for 1.6T modules already require mSAP and M8 laminates, while M9 is planned for 3.2T boards. The ramp-up is expected to overlap with the IC substrate shortage. Module makers that don’t reserve capacity early could end up competing with AI and HPC chipmakers for production slots.

Very interesting overview from TrendForce. GPU: Balanced - $NVDA, $AMD DRAM: Very tight - $MU, $SKHY, $005930.KS NAND: Tight - $SNDK, $KXIAY HDD: Very tight - $STX, $WDC ABF: Very tight - Unimicron $3037.TW, Ibiden $4062.T (and upstream: Ajinomoto $2802.T) MLCC: Tight - Murata $6981.T, Samsung Electro-Mechanics $009150.KS

Failure to comply with US regulations could see Taiwan firms banned from its supply chains over China-made components, a problem that recently put Unimicron at the center of a Taiwan investigation, media report. The tech giant has been accused of putting ‘Made-in-Taiwan’ labels on some printed circuit boards from its China factories. Taiwan firms have long had supply chains in China, but US tariffs and supply chain regulations have caused changes. The report says Taiwan customs caught 428 violations of the rules as of the end of August, up from 168 at the same time last year, a big increase but mainly due to stricter enforcement.