Broadcom and TOPPAN JV opens FC-BGA substrate plant in Singapore
Advanced Substrate Technologies (AST), a joint venture between TOPPAN and Broadcom, has opened Singapore's first facility for high-end FC-BGA substrates. The plant comes online as substrate capacity remains a bottleneck for AI and networking chips.
The approximately 95,000-square-metre facility in the Jurong Lake District is also the TOPPAN Group's first FC-BGA substrate plant outside Japan, according to a press release from Broadcom. It will produce large-body, high-layer-count substrates for AI compute and networking devices, complementing TOPPAN's main production hub in Niigata.
"AST's ability to deliver large-body, high-layer-count substrates at TOPPAN's exacting standard is helping meet a real bottleneck in AI and networking chip production," says Yoshiyuki Iida, CEO of AST.
Broadcom is TOPPAN's largest customer for FC-BGA substrates and has been closely involved in the facility's development, which is tied to the substrate needs of its next-generation AI compute and networking products.
"This facility, brought online three months early, strengthens our supply chain resilience by delivering vital relief while the industry is constrained by substrate shortages," says Charlie Kawwas, President of Broadcom's Semiconductor Solutions Group.
Since breaking ground in March 2024, AST has hired more than 200 engineers and technicians, as well as operational staff, and recruitment is ongoing. The site also houses R&D functions. The project has been supported by Singapore's Economic Development Board and JTC Corporation.
AST is targeting the start of high-value manufacturing by late 2026, and plans to scale output together with TOPPAN and Broadcom as demand grows. The press release does not disclose the facility's production capacity.
