AUSTIN, TX – A supply shortage of build-up substrates is looming, starting in 2029, with tight conditions emerging as early as 2028, according to a new report from tech research firm TechSearch International.

In its latest Advanced Packaging Update, TechSearch says a surge in artificial intelligence hardware, particularly for training and inference workloads, is accelerating demand for high-bandwidth memory stacks and pushing substrate body sizes larger across server CPUs and high-end network switches.

The report, which includes a detailed capacity and demand analysis, emphasizes how this trend will affect the global supply chain for advanced packaging.

Despite sluggish long-term growth in consumer electronics, 2024 saw 5.2% revenue growth for the top 20 OSATs from the previous year, driven by a rebound in smartphone and PC shipments. TechSearch projects limited future growth in PC, smartphone and consumer markets, however, which may constrain unit volumes for ball grid array (BGA) and chip scale packages (CSPs).

• Prev
• Next