Nvidia Funds Supply Chain Expansion for Substrates, Packaging and Optics
By Simon Sharwood · · TexaHub · Semiconductors, Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia announced capacity investments with suppliers of substrates, packaging and optical components at GTC Berlin. Jensen Huang said capacity is the constraint on AI hardware.
Substrate capacity
Nvidia plans to raise substrate capacity for its products 2.5 times over three years, chief executive Jensen Huang said. Samsung Electro-Mechanics is joining the substrate supply chain, with about a quarter of its output expected to go to Nvidia by 2028. [1]
Ibiden will triple production at one plant, and Taiwan's Unimicron received a capacity reservation agreement and plant expansion plans. [1]
Packaging and optics
Korea's Amkor will expand silicon packaging capacity by 300 percent under a capacity reservation. SPIL will raise optics capacity 15 times by mid-2027 and double it again by the end of 2028. [1]
Memory supply
The announcements follow a report that Samsung will use TSMC's 3-nanometre process for base dies in Nvidia's custom NVHBM memory, as Nvidia seeks to standardise the design across suppliers. [2]
The Register read the investments as a sign Nvidia expects the AI infrastructure build-out to continue for years. [1]
Sources
[1] To help world gorge on GPUs, Nvidia brings cash bucket to fatten wafer-thin supply chain — The Register
[2] Samsung to use TSMC technology for Nvidia's next-generation memory chips, Seoul newspaper reports — The Star (Reuters)