According to a research report released by Huaxi Securities Co.,Ltd. (002926), in 2026, industrial changes in glass substrates are beginning to emerge simultaneously on both the demand and supply sides. NVIDIA is evaluating glass substrates, and upstream commercial progress is also increasing, with industry demand extending from technological exploration toward customer projects and line construction investments. The value of glass substrates is first reflected in dimensional stability and fine-line patterning. The firm is bullish on the adoption value of glass cores in high-end large packaging, while organic substrate upgrades will also advance in parallel. Based on current progress, the firm judges that 2027–2028 will be an important observation window for initial customer adoption, and 2028–2030 is expected to enter a revenue growth phase. The main views of Huaxi Securities Co.,Ltd. (002926) are as follows:
Leading Customer Evaluations and Upstream Equipment Procurement Jointly Accelerate Glass Substrate Industrialization
In 2026, industrial changes in glass substrates are beginning to emerge simultaneously on both the demand and supply sides. On September 24, the Seoul Economic Daily reported that NVIDIA is evaluating glass substrates; according to the transcript of SCHMID's August earnings call, management stated that it is cooperating with companies within the supply chains of Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD on Glass Core technology and equipment. Upstream commercial progress is also increasing: LPKF obtained LIDE equipment orders in the second quarter and received a letter of intent for expanded line procurement from an Asian advanced packaging customer in September; SCHMID delivered large-size panel-level packaging equipment in March, and domestic companies like DR Laser and Dongwei Technology have also successively disclosed TGV-related orders and deliveries. These developments indicate that industry demand is extending from technological exploration toward customer projects and line construction investments.
Core Advantages: Stability and Fine-Line Patterning to Meet Large-Size Packaging Demands
As AI accelerators integrate more compute dies, chiplets, and HBM, packaging sizes and interconnect densities increase simultaneously. Substrates need to maintain flatness, circuit alignment, and assembly reliability over larger areas. The value of glass substrates is first reflected in dimensional stability: research on glass core samples published by Shinko shows that compared to traditional organic core substrates, the positional accuracy fluctuation of the outermost alignment marks is reduced by approximately 35%, and warpage is reduced to less than half; in terms of fine-line patterning, DNP has demonstrated RDL samples with 1/1 micrometer line width/spacing. Glass Core replaces the core layer, while ABF continues to handle build-up insulation and fine circuit formation. The two can be combined in the same substrate. Therefore, the firm is bullish on the adoption value of glass cores in high-end large packaging, while organic substrate upgrades will also advance in parallel.
Implementation Challenges: Multiple Process Coordination Including TGV, Metallization, and Build-Up Layers
TGV via formation requires controlling via shape, cracks, and processing consistency across a large number of dense through-holes; metallization and copper filling require forming a continuous seed layer, reducing voids within vias, and withstanding interfacial stress caused by the thermal expansion mismatch between copper and glass; build-up layers require maintaining alignment precision through repeated lamination, curing, and circuit patterning, while controlling warpage, delamination, and dicing fractures. Failure at any back-end process step would result in the loss of previously accumulated processing investments. Therefore, mass production breakthroughs depend on overall line yield, manufacturing takt time, unit good-product cost, and customer reliability certification. Achieving targets in individual processes still needs to be further translated into stable output across continuous batches.
Industry Progress: Leading Manufacturers Have Entered Customer Verification and Supply Construction, with Scaled Revenue to Form in Stages
Intel has demonstrated Glass Core and EMIB integrated samples and continues to advance assembly and reliability verification; Absolics' embedded products have entered reliability evaluation, while the non-embedded route advances supplier selection and proof-of-concept preparation. Samsung Electro-Mechanics plans to establish GlaSSEM to complete glass core manufacturing capabilities, with partners proposing to establish a supply system between October 2027 and March 2028; LG Innotek aims for Glass Core mass production by 2028; DNP's Kuki trial line has already supplied samples and plans to complete line construction by 2028, with mass production in fiscal year 2030 (April 2030–March 2031) as the latest investment premise. Domestically, BOE has produced 24-layer samples exceeding 100×100 millimeters and sent them for customer verification, while TCL Technology is advancing key process breakthroughs and pilot R&D layout. Lens Technology has jointly developed and verified Glass Core with chip customers and is conducting advanced packaging process cooperation with Intel; WG Tech is advancing TGV product prototyping and customer verification, with some products already in small-batch delivery.
Risk Warnings
Technology and reliability verification may fall short of expectations; cost and yield improvement may fall short of expectations; customer certification and capacity construction may be delayed; organic substrates and other packaging technologies may continue to upgrade; AI demand may fluctuate.