📰 Key Highlights

AT&S CEO warns that the global AI wave is creating new bottlenecks in semiconductor manufacturing, as advanced packaging services and substrate supply can no longer keep up with demand. Michael Mertin, CEO of this Austrian substrate supplier, points out that AI chips have dramatically increased the complexity of supply chain partnerships. Vendors and customers can no longer operate on simple order-and-delivery terms but must “collaborate, think together, and build joint technology roadmaps,” reflecting how the advanced packaging segment is shifting from its previously relatively standardized foundry model toward a more deeply integrated cooperative structure that requires both sides to jointly plan capacity and technology evolution. To cope with AI demand continuously outpacing substrate capacity, AT&S is expanding its operations in Penang, Malaysia, indicating that advanced packaging and substrate capacity have become the new bottleneck segment in the AI chip supply chain, following semiconductor manufacturing. The original summary does not provide further details on expansion scale, investment amount, or timeline; please refer to the original link for full details.

💬 JudyAI Lab Perspective

AT&S’s CEO highlights an easily overlooked segment: AI chip bottlenecks are not only in chip fabrication — advanced packaging and substrate supply have also fallen behind demand.

This reflects how the semiconductor supply chain is shifting from a “standardized order-and-delivery” model toward a “deeply tied cooperative model.” AT&S CEO Michael Mertin emphasizes that vendors and customers must “collaborate, think together, and build joint technology roadmaps” — no longer a simple procurement relationship. For AI builders, this case reminds us of an often-overlooked truth: when a technology rapidly expands, bottlenecks rarely stay at the most visible segment (such as GPU compute). Instead, they shift to relatively unassuming yet equally critical nodes in the supply chain, such as packaging and substrates. AT&S’s move to expand its footprint in Penang, Malaysia is the industry’s concrete response to this new bottleneck.

When we evaluate the reliability of AI-related technologies or products, it’s worth asking one more question: within the entire supply chain, which segment might be the next bottleneck?

📅 Original Source Information

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