Author: Mr. Lin Weizhi, Executive Vice President, Ji-Pu Industrial Trend Research Institute

 < AIWafer & Manufacturing>

The explosive demand for AI infrastructure is pushing the chip industry into a new round of structural tightness. From the supply side, the global semiconductor manufacturing system (including IDMs, foundries and OSATs) has seen double-digit growth in 2024 and 2025, and the tightness in 2026 has not been alleviated. The problem is no longer just a boom cycle, but the superposition of multiple structural factors. First, the rapid expansion of HBM