Page 118 - 電路板季刊第111期
P. 118
116 產業脈動 AI supply chain at risk: the T-Glass factor
per-clad laminates (CCLs) adds yet And the supply chain has, in
another layer of complexity. effect, been inverted: where once
Nittobo currently has around 85% customers dictated price and terms
market share, and the company's through quarterly cost-reduction
recent announcement that it will invest reviews, today it is the material sup-
¥15 billion to build a new Fukushima pliers who hold pricing power, and the
plant capable of tripling T-Glass out- rest of the chain must be accommo-
put underscores both the scale of the dated.
deficit and the reality of the timeline. T-glass shortage' reach to the PCB
Without doubt, this facility will not ecosystem
reach full production until 2027 or The T-Glass shortage is not an
2028. isolated event. Its reach has exceeded
The strategic position of Nittobo the IC substrates ecosystem to the
has not been lost on hyperscalers. entire PCB materials supply chain, with
The latter targeted Nittobo's directly cascading consequences that extend
to secure capacity and T-Glass allo- far beyond AI packaging.
cation. This new level of upstream As glass fiber manufacturers in
engagement would have been unthink- Taiwan and Japan redirect furnace
able five years ago when procurement capacity, weaving looms, and engi-
of glass cloth was delegated several neering resources from standard
tiers down the supply chain. E-glass to higher-margin T-Glass and
Nvidia, in particular, was reported other low Dk cloths, the supply of
to have pre-booked fiberglass cloth E-glass, the main material for BT sub-
capacity more than a year ahead of strates and PCBs for memory, auto-
volume shipments. And other play- motive, consumer electronics, and
ers like Apple, Google, and AWS are telecommunications, is being actively
locked in intensifying competition for cut.
whatever remains. • TUC has publicly announced the
Most of Nittobo's 2025 and 2026 suspension of production across
T-Glass production is already fully key mid-Tg, high-Tg, and halo-
allocated to these hyperscale custom- gen-free FR-4 platforms, including
ers while IC substrate and PCB man- its widely used TU-662, TU-768,
ufacturers found themselves unable and TU-747 series, citing upstream
to secure additional supplies, with glass cloth suppliers' decision to halt
lead times for some CCL products to E-glass production in favor of low-Dk
exceed 20 weeks. weaves.
