Taiwan’s Nan Ya Plastics Corp. said it has struck a manufacturing agreement with Japan’s Nitto Boseki Co., a deal that reflects the intensifying scramble for specialty glass fiber materials as artificial intelligence infrastructure demand strains global supply chains.
Under the arrangement, Nan Ya will weave specialty glass fiber cloth on Nittobo’s behalf, with the Taiwanese company handling one-fifth of the Japanese manufacturer’s market supply by 2027. In exchange, Nittobo will provide Nan Ya with second-generation low-dielectric glass yarn, a key input for high-end copper-clad laminates used in advanced semiconductors.
The deal comes as high-end fiberglass fabrics face a supply gap exceeding 10%, with prices for specialty materials used in IC substrates climbing as much as 20% since August. Nittobo controls roughly 80% of the global market for low thermal expansion glass fiber, with new capacity not expected until 2027.
The surge in AI infrastructure demand has exposed shortages of critical upstream materials including specialty glass fiber, high-end copper foil, and coated drill bits, prompting ASIC developers to turn to Taiwanese suppliers after Nvidia and other GPU makers reserved most of Nittobo’s capacity.
Nan Ya, part of the Formosa Plastics Group, ranks among the world’s largest glass fabric manufacturers. The partnership provides capacity relief for Nittobo while securing raw material access for Nan Ya’s laminate business — a reciprocal arrangement that addresses bottlenecks on both sides.
