📌 Micron and ZDT expand AI chip supply chain capacity in parallel
The supply response in the AI chip supply chain is extending from HBM to advanced packaging substrates. Micron plans to double its HBM capacity year over year, while ZDT plans to expand advanced packaging substrate capacity with TWD 56.8 billion and expects capital expenditures to exceed TWD 80 billion in 2026. These two investments are at different stages, indicating that manufacturers are increasing supply in advance for persistently tight AI-related demand.
For Micron, expanding HBM capacity is a direct way to catch up with Samsung and SK Hynix. HBM is a key product in AI memory competition, and additional capital expenditures first mean higher upfront capital investment; whether this can translate into revenue depends on whether the added capacity can be brought online and absorbed by customer demand.
ZDT’s investment, meanwhile, targets the substrate segment needed for advanced packaging. The company will build a new production park in Shenzhen, and its capital expenditure scale will also rise significantly. For suppliers of this type, the opportunity for order growth comes from continued packaging demand, but capacity expansion itself will first increase cash outlays, and actual returns still depend on capacity utilization.
This is still insufficient to prove that AI chip bottlenecks will ease soon. The available information does not provide specific production ramp-up schedules, yield rates, or order data. More worth tracking is whether the new capacity at both ends can come online on schedule, and whether demand growth remains faster than supply growth.
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