UBS China AI Industry Chain Research: Optical Interconnect and SiC Heating Up, Shenghong Bets on Rubin PCB - odaily.news

UBS's latest research report reveals emerging trends in China's AI hardware supply chain, demonstrating sustained robust demand growth. The report indicates that while AI infrastructure demand remains... Read original →

AI hardware demand is shifting from GPU-centric to system-level integration, making optical interconnects and silicon carbide (SiC) critical bottlenecks. Upstream PCB innovations like Shenghong’s Rubin investment directly impact signal integrity and thermal performance, forcing co-evolution across packaging, substrates, and liquid cooling. U.S. export controls on advanced packaging tools have already disrupted supply chains in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, China, accelerating mainland vertical integration—but low SiC substrate yields and reliance on imported photonic chips pose compliance risks. Global players like TSMC and Coherent may lock high-end capacity with North American hyperscalers, squeezing domestic suppliers’ pricing power. Within 18 months, only firms mastering integrated material-structure-thermal solutions will dominate AI infrastructure; component-only vendors risk obsolescence.