Advanced IC Substrates Market Size

Advanced IC Substrate Market Analysis

The Advanced IC Substrates Market size is estimated at USD 18.11 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach USD 31.54 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 11.73% during the forecast period (2024-2029).

Players are continuously advancing their packaging technologies to cater to stringent requirements with a smaller footprint, higher performances, and lower power consumption. The demand for consumer electronics and mobile communication devices drives electronics manufacturers to deliver more compact and portable products.

The increasing trend of miniaturization is driving the demand for advanced packaging. The advent of 5G, which influenced the demand over the past few years, is expected to continue as the use of FCBGA in 5G base stations and HPCs is increasing in countries adopting communication technology.

FCBGA is expected to hold a significant share of the market demand, owing to its routing density availability, as it can be tuned for maximum electrical performance. The key players in the market are Unimicron, ASE Group, IBIDEN, and SCC. For instance, Unimicron and Kinsus are expanding their substrate capacities. Unimicron has announced that it would be investing a total of TWD 20 billion in R&D and expansion of its production capacity for advanced flip-chip substrates through 2022.

Apart from this, the global demand for IoT, in both the consumer and industrial spaces, is expected to add to the increasing demand for the IC substrate. According to the Internet and Television Association, the global number of IoT devices by 2020 is expected to reach 50.1 billion, and industrial IoT demand is expected to exceed consumer demand over the coming years. Such developments are expected to influence the market positively.

The advanced substrate industry follows miniaturization trends, greater integration, and higher performance. Owing to this, several players across the ongoing ED and SLP packaging are making huge investments and showing an increased interest in such technologies.

The higher power density and board integration result in thermal benefits, thereby enabling further improvements in system reliability. Such technologies bring massive value to the market due to extended adoption across automotive applications.

They also drive the telecom and infrastructure segment, where ED is a suitable substrate solution for increased hardware efficiency. Due to this, players are investing huge amounts in new plants where ED is expected to be the main product constituent.

Despite the potential of IC substrates, changing preferences are likely to slow down market growth. For instance, some companies utilize a silicon interposer with multiple RDLs for a better connection between logic and HBM. Others use fan-out-on-substrate with RDLs. FCBGA needs a substrate supplier, wafer bumps, and wafer fab capacity for RDLs and assembly and testing. But FO WLP only requires assembly and wafer fabs for RDLs and wafer bumps and testing. Hence, the industry is witnessing a shift toward FOWLP.

Changes in business/enterprise working style and consumer behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic have fuelled demand for some types of products, and it is expected to open both new markets and routes to market. For instance, demand for semiconductors used in wired communication is still growing as more enterprises are upgrading their security and increasing cloud activities. Video streaming across many networks has also increased fixed broadband usage.