Glass Cloth Emerges as the Next Supply Bottleneck in AI Hardware, Nan Ya Plastics and Taiwan Glass to Seize Opportunity

Premium glass fiber cloth is facing unprecedented shortages as it drives the next “memory card shortage crisis” in the AI supply chain, followed by rapid PCB and CCL upgrades. With Nvidia, Google, and Amazon expanding data centers, competition for premium fiber cloth has intensified, drawing Apple into the heated race.

Industry analysts expect the shortage to persist until at least late 2027. Currently, only Japan’s Nittobo supplies scale, process control, and quality certification at the frontier of Low CTE production, leaving downstream manufacturers exposed to supply risk.

Taiwanese suppliers are moving quickly to narrow the gap. Nan Ya Plastics reported in late November that demand for specialty fibre cloth has surged amid tightening availability. As a strategic partnership with Nittobo, the company seeks to align capacity and technology to address the expected surge in high-end applications.

Taiwan Glass, meanwhile, has committed NT$2.25 billion to expand its high-grade production lines from four to twelve, effectively tripling capacity and doubling output by 2026. With Low-CTE certification in hand, competitors such as Fulltech Industries Corporation and Glotech Industrial Corporation are also stepping up investment.

As AI computing pushes PCB technology towards higher frequencies and denser architectures, material capability is becoming a decisive competitive advantage. In the emerging fibre cloth development, companies with a technical advantage will be privileged to a higher market share and purchasing power. If Taiwanese manufacturers could achieve technical and production capacity, there are opportunities to step up the game with booming opportunities.