Schulz Duggan
AI Supply-Chain Research, Optics/Memory/Macro, Original Asian/US Filings & Pricing
Nvidia's co-investment supports Samsung Electro-Mechanics' substrate expansion because it expects capacity to be tight when it needs supply. Samsung Electro-Mechanics says dedicated compute and switch substrate supply to Nvidia starts this year, with double-digit annual volume growth; by 2028 Nvidia orders should take a substantial share of its package-substrate capacity. Global customers fund part of its 6.78 trillion won expansion, but new Sejong output starts in September 2028. x.com
Qualified package substrates look like Nvidia's binding capacity layer through 2027. Its plan expands substrate supply only 2.5x over three years, versus doubling test in a year and lifting CPO engines 15x by mid-2027; it prepaid IBIDEN's Ono plant, added Samsung Electro-Mechanics and says more deals are underway. Agreements pulling substrate capacity into 2027 would shift the bottleneck. x.com
Buyer-funded expansion at Ibiden signals a real substrate shortage, with added supply only starting in early 2028. Per an Nvidia press release quoted by paurooteri, Nvidia is providing billions upfront to reserve capacity at Ibiden's Ohno plant, aiming to triple output. Micron's customers similarly prepaid to lock memory supply. x.com
IC substrates are Schmid's more relevant growth driver today because demand is already high and rising. Schmid customers Ibiden and Unimicron are expanding capacity with NVIDIA support; higher order intake supports the prospect of more equipment orders. Its balance sheet has improved, and the risk/reward looks attractive at current levels despite volatility. Glass substrates may take another one to two years to matter commercially. This is a personal assessment, not a buy recommendation. x.com … Show more
Glass-core substrate suppliers such as Corning, LPKF, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, SKC and AGC remain early, as the sector is still some way from shipping real volume. Part 4 of @GyujinAAIG's glass research shows how far each group is, mapping substrate makers on a one-to-ten readiness scale and chip designers on a separate one-to-fourteen scale. x.com
AMD and Nvidia face a growing capital burden from substrates without the benefit of foundry margin stacking. Each is committing $1 billion to the substrate ecosystem; AMD has also publicly committed $10 billion to its Taiwan supply chain, more than three times its Q2 net income. That capital is unavailable for R&D and product development, while their gross margins are flat or shrinking. Intel's gross margin is growing as customers prepay its foundry for substrates. x.com
Nvidia's neocloud orders increasingly require its own credit support. Per The Information, it is in talks to guarantee billions of Nscale debt for a 460MW data center; Nscale needs an IPO to fund $24B in Nvidia systems committed for 2026-27. Separately, a quoted article says US officials identified Alice Huang, scrutinized for possibly routing Nvidia chips to China, as a Chinese intelligence asset with direct access to Jensen Huang. This is just the tip of a very big iceberg. x.com x.com x.com
Murata, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Taiyo Yuden, Yageo and TDK look priced too hot even though MLCC fundamentals are booming. Taiyo Yuden cautioned that with 30-week lead times, ODMs are buffering inventory and part of the order book is panic buying. Samsung Electro-Mechanics' CFO said low-to-mid tier margins could face pressure in 18-24 months as Chinese rivals expand. Morgan Stanley and Citi analysts warned that at forward P/Es above 40x, any late-2026 capex slowdown could hit multiples hard. … Show more
Broadcom's integrated optics, electronics and packaging could lower custom-chip system costs because separate suppliers defend their margins. At similar valuations, it is preferred to Nvidia and has more room to beat expectations. Google TPU v8 shipments are estimated at 4.0M in 2026 and 9.1M in 2027, assuming Broadcom supplies the remainder after MediaTek's allocation. Anthropic financing adds value only if chip profit exceeds likely support payments and capacity costs. x.com x.com
Chinese demand for export-compliant inference compute exceeds planned supply, favoring Nvidia, TSMC, Micron and SK hynix. Reuters reports that ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent ordered over 3 million Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 cards worth more than $35 billion; total Chinese orders exceed 6 million against an indicated global 2027 production limit of 3 million. One Reuters source says Nvidia warned partners they might receive only 5-10% of requested quantities. Nvidia and TSMC are practically sold out. … Show more
Nvidia's shares remain pressured because neoclouds have yet to show demand revenue can cover debt service even at higher rates. CoreWeave and Nebius are dragging the shares, though that concern is being priced in and digested. Reuters reports ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent ordered $35B in Nvidia chips; Elon Musk says SpaceX is on track to bring roughly 200,000 GB300 GPUs online per month through end-2026. Nvidia made a higher low, and the next higher-high target is $256. x.com x.com x.com x.com
High-end ABF substrates are the next AI hardware bottleneck, giving Samsung Electro-Mechanics a large opportunity, per Meritz Securities. As AI accelerators scale, package areas are growing over 5x and pin counts up to 100x, while Ajinomoto, with over 90% of raw film supply, is maxed out and Ibiden runs at full capacity. Samsung Electro-Mechanics is rapidly expanding FC-BGA capacity to capture unallocated GPU demand, and Nvidia's 2028 Feynman chips may need 3-5x the substrate of 2026 designs. … Show more
