In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), technological development in the packaging field has encountered bottlenecks, and glass semiconductor substrates, as a key material capable of solving this problem, are attracting much attention.
Major global semiconductor manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics, TSMC, Intel, and AMD are all exploring the application of glass materials in packaging substrates to improve chip integration density. This glass semiconductor substrate, hailed as a "game changer," aims to help AI chips achieve a performance leap. Predictions indicate that AI chips equipped with glass substrates will enter the commercialization stage as early as 2028.
Semiconductor glass substrate manufacturers have accelerated the establishment of mass production systems. In South Korea, SKC (its subsidiary Absolics), Samsung Electro-Mechanics, and LG Innotek have all entered the market, fully committed to the commercialization of semiconductor glass substrates. However, the companies' business development progress varies, with SKC leading in technology and strategic planning, while Samsung Electro-Mechanics and LG Innotek are close behind, working to close the gap.
According to industry sources, semiconductor glass substrates developed by South Korean companies could begin "early mass production" as early as next year. Currently, SKC and Samsung Electro-Mechanics have delivered samples to customers and are simultaneously conducting related testing. Both companies have set clear plans: to establish mass production systems by 2026-2027 and to fully ramp up production capacity by 2027-2028. According to data from market research firm MarketsandMarkets, the semiconductor glass substrate market is projected to reach $8.4 billion (approximately 11.6 trillion won) in 2028, representing an increase of about 18% from $7.1 billion (approximately 9.8 trillion won) in 2023.
Why is glass semiconductor substrate emerging?
The growing demand for glass semiconductor substrates is closely linked to the continuous iteration of AI performance. With the widespread adoption of AI services, the market demand for high-efficiency, highly integrated, and high-performance semiconductor chips has surged. The performance of AI chips is directly tied to the size of the semiconductor packaging substrate. Traditional packaging substrates are typically 100 mm in length and width, but substrates for AI and server applications require dimensions of 140 mm or more.
The core issue is that the widely used plastic (organic material) packaging substrates become more prone to warping and deformation as they grow larger, leading to a decline in semiconductor chip performance.
Intel began related research in the 2010s, and its findings indicate that replacing the core layer of the semiconductor packaging substrate with glass can expand the substrate's length and width to 240 mm. Intel believes that compared to traditional organic materials, glass substrates have a higher modulus (a physical quantity measuring the strength and elasticity of a material), making them more suitable for manufacturing high-performance chips.
The role of a semiconductor substrate is to connect high-performance chips such as central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs) to the motherboard inside the device. Taking the flip-chip ball grid array (FC-BGA) substrate used in current high-performance AI servers as an example, with the application of chip technology (a technology that breaks down and re-integrates the functions of high-performance semiconductors) and the increase in the number of input/output (I/O) terminals, the number of substrate layers has climbed to as many as 40, while the FC-BGA substrates used in ordinary personal computers only have about 10 layers.
To meet the performance requirements of AI chips, ultra-fine circuits that allow for the organic integration of various components need to be fabricated on the substrate. Glass materials, with their higher surface flatness and lower coefficient of thermal expansion, have significant advantages over organic materials. Furthermore, AI servers undergo repeated thermal cycles during operation, and glass substrates are not easily deformed even under such conditions, which is also an important reason for their popularity.
Despite the significant advantages of glass semiconductor substrates, their development process is fraught with difficulties. While glass substrates can resist external deformation, they suffer from a "brittle" defect—they are extremely prone to breakage if a certain stress threshold is exceeded. This characteristic presents challenges in the manufacturing of AI chip substrates: AI chip substrates have more layers, requiring more frequent "drilling" processes (creating tiny holes in the substrate to enable interlayer electrical signal connections), while the brittleness of glass substrates increases processing difficulty.
SKC, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, and LG Innotek are all working hard to overcome the technical challenges of glass substrates while fully leveraging their material advantages. All three companies are prioritizing their R&D efforts in the FC-BGA field, which represents the most promising application area for glass substrates. Their core objective is to replace the core layer of the FC-BGA substrate with glass, achieving a dual increase in substrate area and layer count, thereby securing a place in the AI chip market.
Corporate Strategy
SKC is about to enter mass production, Samsung Electro-Mechanics has completed verification, and LG Innotek is focusing on tackling key technological challenges.
In 2021, SKC established Absolics, a joint venture with Applied Materials, the world's largest semiconductor equipment company, to accelerate its entry into the semiconductor glass substrate market. Shortly after its establishment, the joint venture launched glass substrate samples for supercomputers, attracting widespread industry attention.
In the first half of last year, Absolics built the world's first semiconductor glass substrate production line in Georgia, USA, making it the fastest-growing South Korean company in terms of commercialization. Samples produced at the factory have reportedly been delivered to AMD and Amazon Web Services (AWS) for performance evaluation testing.
Absolics plans to officially achieve mass production of semiconductor glass substrates next year and is currently advancing various preliminary preparations. At the third-quarter earnings conference this year, SKC CFO Yoo Ji-han stated, "The Georgia factory produced mass-production samples of semiconductor glass substrates this quarter and initiated the customer certification process. The feedback from simulation tests is currently very positive, and the company is negotiating with customers to fully promote commercialization next year."
Earlier this month, SK Hynix Vice President Kang Ji-ho (a former Intel executive) was appointed as the new CEO of Absolics. Industry analysts believe that SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's personal oversight of the semiconductor glass substrate business and this personnel appointment demonstrate the company's strategic determination to accelerate commercialization and seize a leading market position.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics' R&D progress closely follows SKC's. Since last month, Samsung Electro-Mechanics has been in talks with Japan's Sumitomo Chemical Group regarding a joint venture to produce the core material for glass substrates—glass core materials—and aims to achieve mass production of glass substrates by 2027 through the joint venture. Simultaneously, Samsung Electro-Mechanics has already built a pilot production line at its Sejong plant, and samples produced have been delivered to customers for performance verification. It is understood that the sample recipients include AMD and Broadcom.
To strengthen its glass substrate business, Samsung Electro-Mechanics recently completed a personnel adjustment: appointing Vice President Joo Hyuk, head of the Central Research Institute, as the head of the core department of the semiconductor substrate business—the Packaging Solutions Business Unit. Joo Hyuk previously worked at Samsung Electronics' System Large Scale Integration (LSI) division and Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT). After joining Samsung Electro-Mechanics at the end of 2023, he has been leading the R&D work on semiconductor glass substrates. Back in August, Samsung Electro-Mechanics hired Kang Du-an, a semiconductor packaging expert with 17 years of experience at Intel, as a senior engineer to further strengthen its technical team.
As a latecomer to this field, LG Innotek has placed its semiconductor glass substrate business under the direct management of its Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and has already equipped its R&D center with sample production equipment. The company has formulated a medium- to long-term development strategy: currently, the CTO department is leading efforts to overcome core technologies; once customer needs are clarified, the business will be transferred to a business unit, and construction of a mass production plant will begin.
An industry insider pointed out: "Driven by the continued expansion of AI services, the demand for high-performance chips is rising, and glass substrates have transformed from an 'optional material' to an 'essential material'."
Source: chosun
