The Company Behind the World’s Most Important Chip Material
You’ve never heard of Ajinomoto Build-up Film (ABF), but it’s inside almost every advanced chip you’ve ever used. It’s a thin insulating layer used in semiconductor substrates — the material that connects the tiny transistors on a chip to the larger pins on a package. Without ABF, modern processors, GPUs, and AI accelerators don’t function. And the company that makes it, Ajinomoto (yes, the same company known for MSG seasoning), just made a big announcement.
What Ajinomoto Is Saying
The Wall Street Journal reports that Ajinomoto says it can meet demand through 2030 for ABF. More importantly, the company plans to expand capacity instead of hiking prices. That’s a significant commitment in a market where substrate shortages have been a recurring bottleneck for chipmakers.
The company is expanding its ABF production capacity, with new output expected to begin in 2032. That timeline tells you a lot about how long it takes to build advanced materials manufacturing capacity — we’re talking about years of planning and construction.
Why ABF Matters More Than Ever
ABF substrates are a critical component in advanced packaging — the technology that lets chipmakers stack multiple dies together in a single package for higher performance and lower power consumption. As Moore’s Law slows, advanced packaging has become the primary way to improve chip performance.
Demand has skyrocketed because:
- AI accelerators like NVIDIA’s H100 and B200 use massive packages requiring large, high-layer-count ABF substrates
- CPU/GPU chiplets rely on advanced packaging to connect multiple dies
- Network switches and 5G gear use ABF substrates for high-speed signal integrity
The Supply Chain Context
ABF has been one of the tightest nodes in the semiconductor supply chain for years. A few years ago, shortages of ABF substrates contributed to delays in shipping everything from data center GPUs to consumer laptops. Ajinomoto has near-monopoly share of the ABF market, so its capacity decisions directly affect the entire industry.
The company’s commitment to holding prices steady while expanding capacity is a strong signal to chipmakers. It suggests that the ABF supply chain, while still constrained, won’t become a bottleneck that derails the industry’s growth plans.
Bottom Line
Ajinomoto’s commitment to meet ABF demand through 2030 without price hikes removes one of the biggest question marks hanging over the semiconductor industry’s expansion plans. Capacity expansion takes years, but the company is making the right moves. For chipmakers and the broader tech industry, this is genuinely good news.
