Demand for mining ASICs has been regaining momentum in China along with sharp increases in cryptocurrencies' value, further lengthening the queue of clients seeking capacity support from Taiwan suppliers of ABF substrates for processing mining chips, according to industry sources.
Leading Chinese mining ASIC vendor Bitmain reportedly placed in late last year 5nm fabrication orders with TSMC and is seeking more capacity support from the foundry giant in 2021, spurring demand for ABF substrates for backend uses, the sources said.
Bitmain reportedly relies on Taiwan's Unimicron Technology and Nan Ya PCB for the supply of ABF substrates, the sources said, adding that Nan Ya is enforcing capacity expansion for such substrates at its plant in Kunshan, China to meet increased demand from Chinese clients.
It remains to be seen as to how long the ongoing round of cryptocurrency mining fever will last, but ABF substrate makers will surely see their capacity supply further tightened in 2021, the sources said.
Demand for ABF substrates for processing high-end CPUs, GPUs and ASICs will continue to linger, and ever-expanding 5G and AI applications will make capacity supply at substrate makers fall increasingly short of demand in the next two years while embracing orders carrying higher quotes, the sources added
Article translated by Willis Ke
