Kickstart your research with key insights from a selection of transcripts available within our Third Bridge Library below.
Nittobo - Glass Fibre for AI Chip Application Q4 2025 Update (Conducted in Japanese)
Transcript key insights:
- T-glass supply shortage occurs every 3-4 years, with 20-30% price increase this time, stemming from capacity constraints and glass-clothequipment- and surface-treatmentprocess bottlenecks
- Nittobo currently holds monopoly on T-glass, but TSMC is developing alternatives with companies such as Nan Ya Plastics for BCP purposes. Evaluation will complete in 1-2 years, with potential transition over the subsequent 3-5 years, creating risk of Nittobo's market share decline to half its current level.
- Nittobo plans to triple production capacity from 2027 with its new Fukushima plant, but "certification process for new factories also take time" and an immediate capacity increase isn't expected
- While Q-glass has been anticipated as low-dielectric material for over a decade, mass production challenges persist due to difficulty in obtaining yarn to weave rolls over 2,000 metres
- Semiconductor-oriented glasssubstrate verification is also stalled, and existing products such as NEZglass will remain mainstream until 2030-32
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Nittobo – Low Dk/Df Glass Fibre Technology Barrier & AI PCB Application (Conducted in Mandarin)
Transcript key insights:
- Low Dk glass fibre is used in PCBs and provides mechanical reinforcement for composite materials. It does not conduct electricity, but acts as a medium that affects electrical signal transmission. The properties of low Dk, Df and CTE make them useful in any field of high-speed signal propagation. Under the outbreak of AI demand, low Dk glass fibre is in short supply. Even if AI CAPEX declines, its application in the unmanned driving and aviation fields can be expected.
- The current price of low Dk glass fibre is USD 30-50 per kilogramme of yarn. Although the output is small, the gross margin is extremely high – “If they can sell, they can make a 50% margin”. The CAPEX of the manufacturing process of the platinum system is high, “easily cost you two million to make four positions run”, resulting in difficulties in capacity expansion at this stage.
- The special technical route developed by Nittobo can bypass the platinum system, reduce the bubble content in glass fibre while reducing CAPEX to less than one-tenth, and improve the yield rate. Moreover, this technical route is protected by patents and cannot be imitated by other players. The US player AGY has a similar technical route, but the bubble rate is high and the yield rate is relatively low.
- Looking around the world, Nittobo currently has a market share of over 60-70%. “Unless AI factories are desperate to buy similar products, Nittobo should still be the first choice.” If Chinese players such as Jushi, Taishan and Guangyuan can get the support of national subsidies, “if they are really serious about development, I think it will take 2-3 years [to catch up with Nittobo]”, but there is still a big gap from Nittobo at present.
- In the future, thin glass substrate technology may be adopted to bypass the fabric approach and replace traditional fibreglass to achieve lower Df and higher performance, which is a possible substitution risk.
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Japanese Semiconductor Glass – Q4 2025 T-glass Supply-demand Dynamics & Next-gen Substrate Material Verification (Conducted in Mandarin)
Transcript key insights:
- The shortage of T-glass supply is not due to technical bottlenecks. Expert believes that Nitto Boseki takes the initiative to expand production slowly and tends to maintain a high premium. In the case of supply shortage, OEMs may relax quality standards and key tests can be completed in just a few months to finish supplier verification and switching, so players such as TaiwanGlass and Taishan Fiberglass have the possibility to seize Nitto Boseki’s share
- The T-glass production bottleneck mainly lies in fibre production. Platinum bushings need to be replaced frequently under high-temperature drawing, which affects the production stability. Nitto Boseki’s bushing supplier Tanaka has exclusive technology to extend the life of the bushings. Competitors’ bushings need to be replaced weekly, while Nitto Boseki's can do it for 10 days or two weeks, hence an advantage
- Compared with T-glass, Q-glass is “the future trend” and “the ultimate choice for glass fibre”, but the fibre drawing technology has not achieved a breakthrough, so it cannot be produced in large quantities and relies on upstream quartz ore resources
- In the high-end substrate technology roadmap, glass substrates are the highest-end, silica microspheres are mid-range and glass fibre is relatively low-end. Each has its own application scenarios. Without the mass production of glass substrates, microspheres will be preferred. Dielectric uncertainty exists in the glass fibre circuit, and there is an upper limit to the routing density
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