Status of the Advanced IC Substrate Industry 2023

Advanced IC Substrates market set to rise to $34 Billion by 2028

The IC Substrate market is expected to grow significantly from $15.1 billion in 2022 to nearly $29 billion by 2028, primarily driven by the AI, 5G, and automotive sectors. New players are entering the market to support the increasing demand from AI customers, representing a huge demand for substrates. All players in the market are investing to satisfy the requirements and increasing demand. At the same time, the SLP (Substrate Like-PCB) market, rooted mainly in high-end smartphones, anticipates a growth from $2.9 billion in 2022 to $3.6 billion by 2028. Embedded Die, a new laminate substrate technology, is expected to rise to over 1.2 billion units by 2028, with a revenue jump to $900 M. Meanwhile, Glass Core, a new substrate core material, heralds the start of a new era for advanced substrates, centering on revolutionary applications in AI and servers. The materials and equipment segments for advanced substrates are keeping pace with the evolution of the demand, the complexity of the market, and the end customers.

Substrate players expanding their capacities to support the AP growth in the AI era

Three prominent Asian countries, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, are at the forefront of advanced IC substrate manufacturing, setting the pace for industry progression. Meanwhile, China is aggressively growing its footprint with an unparalleled surge in investments. This highlights China's strategic intent to be a dominant player in the future.

While the Asian region has the most activity, Europe has AT&S, with plans to be one of the top substrate players in the next few years. In contrast, the U.S.A. has a relatively subdued presence in this industry. A telling indicator is the absence of any U.S.A.-based substrate supplier in the ranks of the top 20, spotlighting a potential area for growth and investment in the light of the Chip Act and the arrival of glass core substrate. The SLP market is mainly dominated by players from Taiwan, including ZD Tech, Compeq, and Unimicron. However, Austria is not far behind, with AT&S making notable contributions, enhancing the European footprint in this arena.  New players are entering the market, while AI applications have more stringent requirements in terms of complexity and supply. Technologically, the broad spectrum of technologies within the ED landscape accentuates a pressing need. Standardization emerges as crucial, especially when it comes to embedding active dies in laminate substrates for power-centric applications. As we look to the future, there is an intense anticipation surrounding Glass Core Substrates. With a potential supply chain in its foundation phase, this new substrate path promises shifts in the substrate manufacturing industry.

Advanced substrates are keeping the innovation pace by adopting glass

In the steadily evolving advanced IC substrate market, there is a definite trend towards heightened complexity. This is evident in the expansion of substrate area, augmentation of layer counts, precision in achieving finer pitches, and the reduction of L/S ratios. The path to such advancements is made smoother by embracing innovative semi-additive processes, including the likes of SAP, mSAP, pSAP, and amSAP. The 5G era is evident, particularly in premium smartphones. This has not just brought faster speeds but has catalyzed the broad-scale adoption of SLP. With smartphones becoming powerhouses of components and the insatiable quest for longer battery life, the imperative is clear: a move to condense the PCB footprint. Shifting the lens to ED technology, the industry is witnessing a remarkable evolution. No longer confined to a single embedded die, today's ED technology incorporates a diverse array of embedded dies. These setups now embed multiple active dies, even more than before, and are complemented by a host of passive elements. The promise of GCS technology is immense. It is expected to redefine boundaries, especially for driving applications such as AI servers and chips. The current substrates might have sketched out the playing field, but with GCS, these outlines are set to be overcome.

Introduction

• Glossary
• About the authors
• Report objectives
• Scope of the report
• Companies cited
• Terminology
• What we got right, what we got wrong
• Methodology and definitions

Three-page summary

Executive summary

IC Substrate technology – Introduction

• Market and technical drivers
• Landscape
• Advanced IC substrate vs. board
• Advanced IC substrate vs. traditional IC substrate
• Categories
• Construction – Core vs. Coreless
• Processes
• Competitive and opportunity technologies

Advanced IC substrate

• Introduction
  • What’s new?
  • Noteworthy news on advanced IC substrate
  • Forecast comparison between 2023 and 2022
  • IC Substrate landscape
• Technology trends and drivers
  • Generative AI
  • Trends, drivers, roadmap, demand
  • Trends in the Advanced Substrate - HI
  • Technology Development Drivers
  • Roadmaps
  • Commercialized IC substrate
  • Technologies trend
  • Substrates : More attention in Chip Acts ?
  • Competitive technologies
• Market forecasts
  • IC substrate - Revenue, units, panels
  • ABF substrate - Revenue, units, panels
• Supply chain and players
  • Equipment and material suppliers
• Advanced IC substrate – Conclusion

Substrate-like PCB (SLP)

• Introduction
  • What’s new since ?
  • Forecast comparison between 2023 and 2022
  • SLP landscape and definitions
• Technology trends and drivers
  • Where is the SLP opportunity?
  • Motivation for SLP adoption
  • Background and evolution
  • Apple flagship smartphones – board analysis
  • SLP drivers and roadmap
• Market forecasts
  • Revenue by product and total board cells
  • Units by product and total board cells
• Supply chain and players
  • Speculated business activities
  • Top 25 players based on 2022 revenue
  • Distribution by country
  • Market shares by player
• SLP – Conclusions

Embedded die

• Introduction
  • Overview of the ED technology
  • ED substrate landscape and technology
  • Forecast comparison between 2023 and 2022
• Technology roadmap, trends and drivers
• Market forecasts
• ED supply chain and players
• ED – Conclusions

Glass Core Substrate

• GCS landscape and definitions
• Glass core substrate in the semiconductor industry landscape
• Glass core substrate and chiplets/ HI
• New as substrate core, but historical in the industry
• Properties and Advantages
• Glass Core Substrate vs. Glass Interposer
• Glass core vs. Organic substrates
• Glass substrate processes
• Intel’s adoption of glass core substrates
• Supply Chain
• Market Forecast
  • Revenues Forecast
  • Units Forecast
• Investments in the emerging glass core substrate
• Glass core substrates: A Strategic Pivot in the Semiconductor Supply Chain
• Equipment and materials suppliers
• GCS – Conclusions

Financial analysis

Chinese IC substrate industry

Conclusion

Yole group – Corporate presentation

Access, Ajinomoto, AKMMV, AMD, Apple, ASE, AT&S, Bomin Electronics, Calumet, Carsem, China Eagle Electronic, Compeq, Continental, Cyntec, QDOS, Daeduck, Daimler AG, Doosan, DSBJ, Dupont, Dyconex, EMC, Fraunhofer, Fastprint, Flexceed, Fraunhofer IZM, Fujikura, GanSystem, General Electric, Google Hemei, Hong Yuen, Horex, Huawei, Ibiden, IBM, IMEC, Infineon, Intel, JCET, Kinsus, Korea Circuit, Kyocera, LG Innotek, MacDermid Alpha, Meiko, Microship, MISpak, Mitsubishi Chemical, MKS, Nordson, Nvidia, NXP, NYPCB, Omnivision, onsemi, Oppo, Qualcomm, QDOS, Qorvo, PPT, Renesas, RiverGate Electronics, Samco, Sarda Technologies, Schweizer, Sekisui, Shanghai Sinyang, SG Circuits, Shennan, Shinko, Showa Denko Simmtech, SiPlus, St. Jude Medical, StatsChipPAC, SPIL, Taiyo Ink, DK, Technic, Texas Instruments, Toppan, TSMC, TTM Technologies, Unimicron, Unisem, UTAC, WG Tech, Würth Elektronik, Xilinx, Xin Ai, Xiaomi, Zhen Ding Tech. Group, ZSCCSC, and more.

Key Features​

• Advanced Substrates market shares
• Glass core substrate chapter
• Investment analysis of the advanced substrates industry,
• Focuses on four advanced IC substrate platforms (Advanced IC substrate, Substrate-like PCB (SLP), Embedded die and  Glass Core substrate)
• Overview of Chinese IC substrate

What’s new? 

• New technologies added (Glass Core substrate),
• New assumptions,
• 2022-2028 Forecast updated.

Product objectives

This report is an update of the previous 2022 release, ‘Status of the advanced IC substrate Industry 2022’.  

This report delivers an overview of the following topics for each substrate platform

• Market trends and drivers: key applications and our predictions for the future industry roadmap
• Forecasts: production volume, panel production volume, and revenue
• Technology roadmap: existing technology descriptions
• Supply chain: who is using these technologies, and how is the supply chain organized?