Ajinomoto, the dominant supplier of ABF film used in advanced IC substrates, has told customers it will shift to differentiated allocation because of raw material shortages, prioritizing AI and other high-end applications. A channel survey cited by Meritz Securities said the company’s ABF film lines are expected to be fully loaded through the second quarter of 2026, with little near-term relief from new capacity. The move matters because ABF film is a key insulating layer in FC-BGA packaging for CPUs, GPUs and AI accelerators. While it accounts for only a small part of substrate cost, supply disruptions can halt production lines. The report said Ajinomoto has maintained more than 95% global market share in the segment. The supply squeeze is already showing up in lead times and pricing. Lead times have stretched from three to four months at the start of the year to more than 12 months, and some customers are already discussing 2029 capacity. The article pointed to rising demand from larger AI chips, including NVIDIA’s next-generation Rubin GPU, and expanding CoWoS packaging capacity at TSMC. According to the report, Taiwan’s Unimicron, Nan Ya PCB and Kinsus could benefit first because they already have high-end production scale, yield performance and customer qualifications. At the same time, non-AI customers are likely to face reduced allocation, longer waits and higher costs, while glass substrates are not expected to become a volume replacement before 2027.

Taiwan’s PCB supply chain is facing another round of price increases in the second half of the year as demand from AI servers and high-performance computing continues to strain supplies of key upstream materials. According to the ABMedia report, shortages in copper clad laminate (CCL), prepreg, low dielectric glass fiber cloth and T-Glass remain difficult to resolve in the near term, after price hikes of 5% to 30% had already hit parts of the sector in the first half. Some of that impact has started to show up in third-quarter financial results. The report said major PCB makers including Tripod Technology, Chin-Poon Industrial, Dynamic Holding and Unitech printed earlier price adjustments, while IC substrate makers Unimicron, Kinsus and Nan Ya Printed Circuit are also expected to benefit if rolling price increases continue through the third and fourth quarters. Industry estimates cited in the report point to a supply gap of more than 60% for second-generation low-DK glass cloth, with T-Glass shortages still widening. Market expectations mentioned in the article suggest CCL supply conditions may not materially ease until new capacity starts coming online in the first quarter of 2027.

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund reported total assets of $2.34 trillion for the first half of 2026, with a 9.4% investment return and profit of $184.9 billion. The fund’s Taiwan equity holdings rose 50.7% to $61.914 billion, or roughly NT$2 trillion, increasing Taiwan’s share in its global equity portfolio to 3.68%. TSMC remained the fund’s fifth-largest holding worldwide at $33.525 billion and was the only non-U.S. company among its top five positions, accounting for 1.7% of total assets. In Taiwan, the top five positions were TSMC, MediaTek, Delta Electronics, Hon Hai and Yageo. MediaTek climbed to the No. 2 Taiwan holding at $3.183 billion, while Yageo’s position value jumped 426% to $1.12 billion, moving from 18th at the end of the prior year to fifth. The fund held 333 Taiwan-listed stocks as of June 30, 2026. First-half portfolio changes included 14 additions and 20 removals. New positions were concentrated in AI server-related supply chains, including passive components, optical communications, PCB and semiconductor testing materials, memory, connectors and thermal modules. Stocks removed from the portfolio included names tied to autos, precision machinery, aerospace, green energy and energy storage, reflecting a sharper focus on AI-linked technology segments.