Japan's Toppan Holdings is gearing up to commence the construction of a new facility in Singapore, with a targeted completion date set for the end of 2026. Although the precise scale of its investment has not been disclosed, it is estimated to be around 50 billion yen (equivalent to USD 338 million). As it presently only manufactures package substrates at its Niigata prefecture plant in Japan, the proposed new site aims to diversify its production base and provide access to numerous back-end processing contractors involved in semiconductor assembly and testing in Malaysia and Taiwan.
This expansion by Toppan seeks to address the escalating demand for package substrates, which are crucial components for connecting integrated circuit chips to printed circuit boards. As technological advancements have led to a reduction in circuit line widths to enhance chip performance, Toppan's larger and multilayered package substrates offer a solution to this nearing limit. These substrates can be utilised in semiconductors for various applications such as communications, AI, and other fields. Analysts foresee the chip substrate market potentially reaching USD 29 billion by the year 2028.
Support for this new initiative has been secured from the Singaporean government as well as from Toppan's chief customer, Broadcom. The company aims to augment its substrate production capacity by 150% by fiscal 2027.
