Depending on the type of storage, prices have exploded in recent quarters – high-end products in particular are sometimes four times more expensive than they were two years ago. The reason for this is the acute shortage on the market, as production capacities are completely exhausted. Large AI companies are buying massive amounts of DRAM to expand their server systems; simply creating additional capacity is not easily possible. According to a report, another material is now affected, which poses problems for Apple and other manufacturers: fiberglass fabric. More and more suppliers for the same production quantity
This “glass cloth fiber” is a core material for chip substrates and circuit boards in devices such as Mac, iPhone and Co. The most modern versions of this glass cloth come almost exclusively from Nittobo in Japan, which has a virtual monopoly in this sector. Apple has been relying on Nittobo’s premium glass fabric for years and once secured high quotas. Nvidia, Google, Amazon, AMD and Qualcomm, among others, are now crowding into the same pool because their chips for AI servers require extremely high-quality substrates. However, the maximum production volume has been reached, as Nikkei Asia explains. Significant bottlenecks are expected for the current year.
Apple is responding to the problem
Apple has therefore taken several steps to counteract the impending shortages. The company therefore sent numerous employees to Japan and “stationed” them at Mitsubishi Gas Chemical – which produces finished substrates for Apple’s chips from Nittobo’s glass fabric. At the same time, Japanese government authorities were contacted for assistance in securing delivery quotas. According to the report, Apple has also discussed using less advanced glass fabric as a temporary solution, although this could no longer alleviate the situation by 2026.
No short-term relief in sight
Industry insiders see the situation as sobering. No matter how much money you use to lure people or put pressure on them, capacity limits simply mean capacity limits. It’s all about who gets to buy the bigger piece of the pie. Switching to less sophisticated technologies is only an alternative to a very limited extent. Whether the extremely thin, dimensionally stable and particularly stiff fibers are doing their job can only be seen when the chip is largely completely manufactured – the glass fabric lies deep in the substrate and can no longer be replaced after the chip has been assembled. Therefore, no one is willing to take risks with expensive high-end SoCs. However, it is estimated that it will be mid-2027 before other manufacturers reach the required quality level. Apple and other tech companies must therefore try to secure the highest possible quotas, but at the same time invest a lot in building up additional suppliers.
