Xinxing is the global leader in carrier boards. (Photo by reporter Zhuo Yijun)
[Reporter Zhuo Yijun/Taipei Report] As the demand for generative AI, high-performance computing (HPC) and data center construction continues to heat up, the global semiconductor substrate industry is entering a new stage of high-end product specification upgrades, tight supply of key materials, and competition for advanced packaging technologies. The latest observations from the Taiwan Circuit Board Association (TPCA) and the International Institute of Obstetrics and Technology of the Industrial Research Institute point out that the global output value of carrier boards will reach US$14.75 billion in 2025, an annual increase of 18.5%; in 2026, in AI servers, high-speed traffic Driven by the application of inverters, ASICs, GPUs and high-end memories, the global carrier board output value is estimated to reach US$19.51 billion, an annual increase of 32.3%, showing that high-end carrier boards have become a key link in the AI computing and advanced packaging supply chain.
In 2025, the global carrier board market will return to the growth track. The output value of BT carrier boards will be approximately US$7.03 billion, an annual increase of 18.2%; the output value of ABF carrier boards will be approximately US$7.72 billion, an annual increase of 18.6%. TPCA observes that this wave of market growth comes not only from the recovery in terminal demand, but more importantly from the upgrade of carrier board product specifications driven by AI and high-performance computing. With the rapid expansion of demand for AI servers, the demand for high-end ABF carrier boards for GPU, ASIC and high-speed network switching chips continues to heat up. In addition, the improvement of chip performance has led to the enlargement of the size of the carrier board, the increase in the number of layers and the increase in process complexity, further boosting the market value of high-end carrier boards.
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In 2026, AI computing demand will continue to extend from model training to large-scale inference and agent AI (Agentic AI), and large cloud service providers will still expand investment in AI infrastructure. Gartner estimates that global server shipments will be approximately 14 million units in 2026, an annual increase of 11.6%; of which, AI servers will be approximately 3.7 million units, an annual increase of 55.9%, which will continue to support the demand for high-end ABF carrier boards. In comparison, although the smartphone and PC markets have benefited from replacement demand and the start of new product cycles, demand recovery has been relatively mild due to rising memory prices, increased component costs and overall economic uncertainty. The carrier board market will show a differentiated pattern with strong demand for AI and high-performance applications, while the growth of consumer electronics applications is relatively limited.
From the perspective of the global competition landscape, if the location of corporate headquarters is used as a statistical benchmark, Taiwan's carrier board players will have a combined market share of 35.6% in 2025, ranking first in the world; South Korea and Japan will rank second and third with 27.9% and 22.7% respectively. Looking further at the ABF carrier board market, Taiwan's carrier board players have a combined market share of 41.3%, also ranking first in the world, showing that Taiwan has a key position in high-end carrier boards, AI chip packaging and high-performance computing supply chains. In terms of BT carrier boards, South Korea has benefited from the foundation of the mobile phone and memory industries. The total market share of the industry players has reached 36.4%, ranking first in the world; Taiwan ranks second with 29.4%.
Despite strong demand for AI, the supply side of high-end carrier boards still faces key material bottlenecks. TPCA pointed out that the supply of Low CTE fiberglass cloth required for high-end carrier boards continues to be tight. It will still take time for new production capacity to be put into production and ramp up. The introduction of new suppliers must also be certified by customers. It is difficult to significantly increase supply capacity in the short term. As the high-end ABF carrier boards required for AI chips continue to develop in the direction of large size, high-layer count, and high density, the complexity of the process and the production cycle are increasing simultaneously. Coupled with limitations such as yield, material supply, and customer certification, the supply expansion rate is relatively limited. As demand continues to grow and supply elasticity is limited, the price of high-end carrier board products is expected to remain relatively high, and the price effect will also become an important factor in boosting the growth of the output value of the carrier board market this year.
In terms of advanced packaging technology, the scale of AI chip packaging continues to expand, driving the development of CoWoS towards larger interposers and packaging areas. It also makes the carrier board face more stringent challenges such as warpage, co-planarity, signal integrity and power supply efficiency. Glass Core is regarded as an important development direction for the next generation of high-end carrier boards due to its high rigidity, good flatness and dimensional stability. However, glass substrates are still in the stage of technology verification and supply chain construction, and must still overcome challenges such as material brittleness, glass through-hole metallization consistency, processing and reliability verification. Initial applications are expected to focus on AI GPUs, ASICs and other HPC chips with large packaging areas and high power consumption.
TPCA stated that the main development axis of the global carrier board industry in 2026 is not only the recovery of terminal market demand, but also the upgrading of product structure driven by AI and HPC applications, material supply bottlenecks, and the adjustment of advanced packaging supply chain division of labor and cooperation models. Taiwan has achieved a leading position in the ABF substrate market. In the future, it will continue to deepen high-end process research and development, key material supply resilience and cross-field cooperation, and combine industry energy such as semiconductors, packaging, materials, equipment and testing to consolidate Taiwan's key position in the global AI supply chain and the next generation advanced packaging ecosystem.
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