IC substrate shortage to persist in 2026, AI and memory customers sign long-term contracts
Flora Wang, Taipei; Charlene Chen, DIGITIMES Asia
Thursday 20 November 2025
Taiwan's IC substrate makers anticipate a 10-20% supply gap of T-Glass* material in 2026, prompting AI and memory customers to pursue long-term contracts to ensure capacity and stabilize revenue amidst shortages.
*Copilot:
T-Glass is a high-performance glass fiber material used in advanced IC substrates, offering superior thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties compared to standard E-glass. It’s critical for next-gen semiconductor packaging, especially in high-density, high-speed applications like GPUs and AI accelerators.
What Is T-Glass?
- Composition: T-Glass contains a higher percentage of silica (SiO2) and alumina (Al2O3) than conventional E-glass.
- SiO2: ~64–66% vs. ~52–56% in E-glass
- Al2O3: ~24–26% vs. ~12–16%
- Properties:
- Higher tensile strength: ~4.8 GPa vs. 3.2 GPa
- Lower thermal expansion: ~2.8 ppm/°C vs. 5.6 ppm/°C
- Higher modulus of elasticity: ~86 GPa vs. 75 GPa
- Softening point: >1000°C (vs. 844°C for E-glass)
These traits make T-Glass ideal for high-performance electronic substrates, especially where thermal stability and mechanical rigidity are essential.
Why It Matters for IC Substrates
- Used in glass cloth for BT (bismaleimide triazine) and Ajinomoto Build-up Film (ABF) substrates.
- Enables fine-line routing, low warpage, and high-density interconnects—critical for packaging chips like Nvidia’s GB200 or AMD’s MI300.
- Supports low dielectric loss, improving signal integrity at high frequencies.
2026 Supply Gap
- Taiwan’s substrate makers (e.g., Unimicron, Kinsus, Nan Ya PCB) anticipate a 10–20% shortfall in T-Glass supply by 2026.
- Driven by:
- Surging AI chip demand
- Glass substrate adoption (Intel, Nvidia, Samsung)
- Limited capacity at suppliers like Nittobo and AGY
This could impact advanced packaging throughput, especially for CoWoS-L and glass-based interposers.
Let me know if you want to track T-Glass suppliers or benchmark its role in Nvidia’s GB200 NVL72 vs AMD’s MI300X packaging stack.
Sources: Nittobo T-Glass specs, UGPCB glass substrate analysis.
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