More than 100 years ago two Japanese textile companies called Fukushima Boseki Co., Ltd., and Katakura Seishi Iwashiro Bosekisho they joined forces to become Nitto Boseki Co. Ltd, also known as Nittobo. A century later we have encountered a giant on which a critical material for the future of our chips depends: glass fabric.
Technological glass artisans. The Japanese company was the first in industrially producing carbon fiber. They did it in 1938, almost right at the same time as Owens Corning Fiber Glass in the US. Later, in 1969, they developed the “crystal fabric” or “glass cloth” (glass cloth), a material that began to be used in printed circuits
Hello, T-glass. That material evolved and in 1984 they launched their T-glass, an even more specialized glass fabric that began to be used as a substrate in chips of all types. This material is different from the common fiberglass like that used in surfboards or in insulation solutions. Thus, it has a very low coefficient of thermal expansion, which ensures its good performance even when the chips are operating at maximum performance.
Japan, we have a problem. As indicated on Nikkeiexperts warn that the lack of this material has become a major obstacle to chip manufacturing and the advancement of AI in 2026. Nittobo is practically the only company in the world capable of manufacturing this glass with the necessary quality. Its glass fabric is extremely thin, bubble-free and heat-resistant, which has made it a fundamental part of chips such as those used in iPhones. Apple, in fact, was one of the first major technology companies to reach an agreement with Nittobo to use this material.
Everyone loves Nittobo. The good performance of this material has now made companies like NVIDIA, Google or Amazon also demand T-glass for their chips, and that has generated a worrying competition due to inventory that is quickly depleted and it is not clear that it can cope with demand.
Apple asks for help. The situation is so tense that Apple has sent some managers to Japan and has even asked the Japanese government to intervene to ensure supplies from Nittobo. Once again the objective is to guarantee the launch of its key products, and at Nikkei they point directly to the expected foldable iPhone.
The fiberglass fabric is a critical layer on the chip substrate and ensures that everything works perfectly even under heavy workloads. Source: Nikkei.
Capacity will grow, but not immediately. At Nittobo they know very well what the situation is like, but they can’t do anything to remedy it, at least in the short term. A company executive quoted in Nikkei indicates that “if we do not have additional capacity, it means that we do not have additional capacity no matter how much pressure is put on Nittobo. The way I see it, the situation will only improve significantly when Nittobo’s production increase becomes a reality in the second half of 2027.”
Looking for alternatives. Apple and Qualcomm are looking for plans B, and their initiatives to find new suppliers in China or Taiwan are already underway. However, the demand for the quality of this type of material is very high: an error in the quality of the glass of the chip substrate cannot be repaired, and would ruin entire batches of components.
AI causes chaos again. We already saw it with memories: the AI industry needs immense quantities of DRAM and NAND memory chips, and that has now meant that the rest of the world is suffering from a huge rise in prices. The same thing is happening with this glass fabric: AI chip manufacturers have an exaggerated demand for this material, which harms the rest of the “traditional” chip manufacturers and, therefore, the users.
bad business. And as happens with memories, in the end the material is sold to the highest bidder, which are usually companies like NVIDIA that have exceptional profit margins. That leaves consumer electronics manufacturers in a vulnerable position and with declining sales forecasts.
Nittobo does not want to saturate the market. And as happened with the memory market, Nittobo does not want to oversize its business in the face of this demand and prefers to be cautious. Japanese suppliers already suffered losses from overstocks in 2022, so they are now reluctant to expand their factories aggressively. It is precisely the same speech that Micron made, which already suffered from excess inventory after the pandemic: although they could now manufacture more memory chips, for them that means risking history repeating itself.
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