PCB supply chain to gain from mass production of new Intel server processors
Jay Liu, Taipei; Willis Ke, DIGITIMES
Taiwan’s PCB supply chain is poised to embrace a new wave of growth momentum in 2021 from Intel entering volume production of its latest 10nm Ice Lake Xeon scalable server processors in the first quarter of 2021, according to industry sources.
IC substrate maker Unimicron Technology has arranged ABF substrate production lines exclusively for Intel’s new-generation server processors, and is expected to see its profitability for 2021 notably bolstered by Intel’s new offerings, the sources said.
CCL makers Elite Material, Iteq and Taiwan Union Technology, and server board suppliers Gold Circuit Electronics, Tripod Technology and HannStar Board have all readied materials inventory and production capacity to serve vendors of servers adopting new Intel processors, the sources continued.
The PCB supply chain players are expected to start volume shipments in the second quarter at the latest to support mass production of servers adopting new Intel processors, the sources noted.
Server demand from datacenter operators is expected to stay stable in 2021,but shipments for brand vendors may hinge largely on whether the pandemic may continue undermining the willingness of enterprises to invest more in server systems, the sources said.