NVIDIA announced on October 21 that it’s working with six supply chain partners to expand manufacturing capacity for its AI platforms. The plans include new factories in South Korea and new testing facilities in the U.S.
“Demand is extraordinary. Capacity is the constraint,” NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said in the announcement.
Shovels Meet Silicon
KYEC: New U.S. testing facilities and equipment, backed by a $1.1 billion capacity reservation advance from NVIDIA. High-volume production is targeted for April 2027.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics: Joining NVIDIA’s substrate supply chain with immediate capacity from existing operations in South Korea. It also plans facility upgrades and new factories in Sejong and Busan.
IBIDEN: An expansion of its Ono Plant in Japan, under a deal signed earlier this year, targeting 3x current capacity. New capacity is expected to start ramping in the first quarter of 2028.
Amkor: Plans to grow interposer wafer capacity in South Korea by more than 300% by the end of 2028, alongside new manufacturing facilities there.
Unimicron: A KF substrate expansion in Taiwan, expected to start adding capacity in the second quarter of 2027 and reach full capacity by mid-2028.
Multiplication Tables
NVIDIA plans to grow substrate capacity 2.5x over the next three years. It also expects total testing capacity to double from calendar 2026 to 2027, with buildouts in the U.S., Taiwan and Singapore.
SPIL (Siliconware Precision Industries) has the biggest number in the announcement. It’s targeting a 15x increase in Taiwan capacity for optical engines used in co-packaged optics by mid-2027, with another doubling by the end of 2028.
Money Down
NVIDIA is putting its own money into the buildout. It’s providing capacity reservation advances to KYEC and IBIDEN, and it has a capacity reservation agreement with Unimicron.
Somebody Has to Build It
Huang says, “We are in the midst of the largest infrastructure buildout in human history.” A good chunk of this plan rides on new facilities, and those don’t build themselves.
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