Intro

Robot arms in smart factories autonomously operate assembly lines, while self-driving vehicles analyze road conditions in real time. The era of ‘Physical AI’ is rapidly emerging as artificial intelligence (AI) extends beyond the virtual domains of data analytics and text generation to independently make decisions, take actions, and interact with the physical world.

As AI technologies continue to reshape industrial structures, the scope of semiconductor applications is expanding into areas such as high-performance computing (HPC), autonomous driving, data centers, and robotics. This transformation is driven by advances in package substrate technology, which enable high-speed signal transmission and high-density system architectures. Advanced package substrate market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 9.4% from 2025 to 2033, positioning substrate technology as a critical infrastructure for AI innovation and a strategic determinant of future technological competitiveness.

Semiconductor substrates were once regarded as supporting components that complemented chip performance, the rapid advancement of AI-driven industries and the surging demand for high-specification semiconductors have repositioned substrates to a core enabler of overall system performance. Much like a neural network that connects the brain, package substrates now extend beyond simple chip interconnection, serving as a central backbone that ensures stable data and power delivery while managing thermal dissipation and signal integrity.

This article is the opening of a series that explores the technological direction and key challenges of advanced package substrate solutions. Subsequent series will provide an in-depth examination of the future outlook and innovation strategies shaping high-performance and next-generation package substrate technologies.

Physical AI Era: A Global Hardware Ecosystem Driven by Package Substrate Innovation

Physical AI Era: A Global Hardware Ecosystem Driven by Package Substrate Innovation The arrival of the Physical AI era clearly underscores the role of advanced package substrate solutions as a decisive factor in determining the performance and efficiency of AI hardware. Global big tech companies are strengthening the development of in-house chip solutions and AI platform servers, while expanding into new application areas such as network infrastructure and satellite communications. As they reach a critical inflection point in technological transformation, securing package substrate technologies has emerged as a strategic priority.

At the APEC CEO Summit held in October 2025, NVIDIA outlined its strategy to expand across the full spectrum of Physical AI, extending beyond GPUs into robotics, digital twins, and edge computing, while emphasizing the importance of hardware innovation to enable high-performance semiconductors. As AI workloads continue to surge, limitations in power efficiency and growing thermal management challenges are becoming evident, accelerating a structural shift toward high-margin, high-value semiconductor products.

Against this backdrop, next-generation substrate technologies that transcend the physical limitations of conventional plastic substrates are gaining attention. Material transitions to glass, along with multilayer architectures and embedding technologies, are addressing the critical requirements of high-density AI computing environments, including power efficiency optimization, improved heat dissipation, and enhanced signal integrity. These technologies are increasingly seen as essential to next-generation AI systems and are driving new investment while reshaping the global hardware supply chain.

In practice, the autonomous driving and AI industries are increasingly focusing on glass substrates as an alternative to traditional plastic substrates for high-performance semiconductor applications. And glass-based materials are being actively evaluated as a means to support AI service expansion and improve data center efficiency.

Amid these industrial shifts, strengthening manufacturing capabilities and securing end-to-end technological expertise across materials, processes, and packaging are emerging as key prerequisites for global supply chain competitiveness. In particular, advanced packaging, semiconductor back-end processing, and substrate technologies are gaining traction as strategic domains essential to lead the next-generation hardware ecosystem.

Growth Engine Ahead of Change: LG Innotek’s Next-Generation Package Substrate Solutions

Package substrate solutions are used across a wide range of industries and have evolved based on reliability and precision. They are designed to meet rapidly changing technological requirements, including higher performance, ultra miniaturization, and large-area packaging. As high-performance chip design and advanced packaging place increasingly strict demands on density, thermal management, signal integrity, and power efficiency, semiconductor substrates are no longer simple platforms for mounting chips. Instead, they are emerging as critical enablers of system-level design optimization and overall performance.

Today’s market focuses not only on delivering stable and reliable performance, but also on the ability to anticipate change and capture growth opportunities through proactive responses. As corporate strategies diversify and market complexity increases, the need for a comprehensive product portfolio, advanced technological capabilities, proven reliability, and stable production and supply capacity has become more pronounced. Highly advanced semiconductor substrate technologies allow limited space to be used more efficiently and help enhance the performance of surrounding components, enabling complex and demanding applications to be realized.

Building on 55 years of accumulated expertise, LG Innotek is extending the know-how it has developed in substrates for mobile and display applications into emerging fields such as AI, robotics, mobility, and wearable devices. To establish itself as a global leader in the semiconductor substrate market, the company has secured technological edge alongside advanced manufacturing infrastructure, including state-of-the-art facilities such as its ‘Dream Factory.’

Leveraging these technological strengths, LG Innotek has built a broad portfolio that includes next-generation Package Substrate solutions for mobile applications, high-value-added substrates such as FC-BGA(Flip-Chip Ball Grid Array), and Tape Substrate solutions that lead the global market. Through this portfolio, the company has established integrated, end-to-end capabilities spanning design, materials, processes, mass production, and quality assurance. This enables LG Innotek to deliver comprehensive solutions that support technology innovation tailored to application-specific requirements, while consistently staying ahead of market change.

Package Substrate: High-Density Hub Maximizing Mobile Performance

Package substrates are high-density substrates that transmit electrical signals between semiconductor chips and mainboards, playing a critical role in smartphone slim design and high-performance feature integration. When hybrid structures are applied, insulation layer thickness can be reduced, enabling ultra-thin, low-loss substrate implementations. In complex mobile signal environments—such as 5G- and AI-compute-based smartphones and edge devices—efficient signal transmission, stability, and improved power efficiency have become essential requirements.

LG Innotek leads the global market with substrate technologies optimized for smartphones, including RF-SiP(System in Package) solutions that demand both high performance and miniaturization. Its industry-first experience in mass-producing substrates for 5G mmWave antennas further reinforces its leadership.

The company has also introduced innovation in semiconductor substrates through its Cu Post(Copper Post) technology, the first to be developed and commercialized globally. By applying copper pillars to Solder Ball interconnection structures between substrates and mainboards, LG Innotek minimizes footprint and size while enhancing integration density, performance, thermal dissipation, and surface flatness. Going forward, Cu Post technology will be applied to mobile package substrates such as RF-SiP and FC-CSP(Flip Chip–Chip Scale Package), further strengthening the company’s competitive position.

FC-BGA: Core Innovator Powering Future Industries

FC-BGA is a high-performance semiconductor substrate that delivers electrical signals and power by connecting highly integrated semiconductor chips to main boards. It is used in large-area, high-layer-count, high-specification circuit substrates for PC and server CPUs and GPUs, network switch chips, and automotive SoCs, and is emerging as a key growth engine for next-generation semiconductors. In high-performance servers and networks for AI and HPC, as well as in EVs and autonomous vehicles, the ability to support larger chip sizes and higher layer counts through FC-BGA is its core competitiveness.

In response to these demands, LG Innotek is developing a large-area, high-performance FC-BGA with a size exceeding 100 mm. The company possesses differentiated technologies, including simulation-based optimization solutions for key warpage parameters and advanced core processing techniques that stabilize signal and power performance.

LG Innotek’s Multi Layer Core (MLC) technology further enhances substrate performance by stacking multiple insulation layers to prevent core-layer warpage, which serves as the structural backbone of the substrate. This approach not only reinforces the core layer but also enables fine-pattern implementation, improving overall signal efficiency. Also, the company is actively advancing its capabilities in Glass Substrate and Glass Interposer technologies. With superior thermal resistance and high-speed data transmission characteristics, glass substrates are emerging as next-generation solutions for high-specification, large-area, high-end packages.

Tape Substrate: Flexible Connector Linking Display Innovation

Tape substrates are thin, flexible, tape-type substrates that transmit signals between display driver ICs and panels. As demand grows for high-resolution, large-area displays and wearable devices—including OLEDs, foldable smartphones, 8K TVs, and XR—the importance of interconnection technologies capable of delivering large volumes of data with high accuracy and stability continues to increase.

With their flexible form factor and lightweight structure, tape substrates can be naturally deployed across various 3D curved surfaces and jointed structures, including those used in robotics. Their potential is also expanding into future hardware applications that require highly reliable connections with strong signal integrity.

Leveraging Chip On Film (COF) and 2Metal COF technologies, LG Innotek secures design space by reducing overall thickness, while enhancing electromagnetic interference (EMI) control and thermal performance. These strengths translate into differentiated competitiveness in long-term reliability. Based on this technological edge, the company has maintained its No.1 global market share for 13 consecutive years, setting industry benchmarks in the tape substrate sector.

Next Stage of Packaging: Shaping New future through Complete Technology Spectrum

In today’s semiconductor substrate market, different applications are driving diverse requirements at the same time, from AI computing and 5G/6G communications to autonomous driving and edge computing. It has become increasingly difficult for a single technology to keep pace with the speed of industry change. Going beyond product line expansion, companies are focusing on building ‘full-lineup technological capabilities’ that can address comprehensive customer needs and production systems that ensure consistent quality. Such capabilities are rapidly emerging as critical strategic assets.

At the same time, as the rapid expansion of the AI era connects materials, processes, and packaging into a unified ecosystem, semiconductor substrates have emerged as a critical technology that determines the overall reliability and efficiency of entire systems. End-to-end technological competitiveness—spanning process optimization, materials innovation, quality management, and supply chain stability—will ultimately be a decisive factor shaping the future of the industry.

Leveraging its complete technology spectrum and integrated manufacturing framework, LG Innotek continues to expand its global presence and solidify its position as a trusted partner enabling innovation in the era of Physical AI. Its broad portfolio, ranging from Display Mask solutions to Tape Substrate, Package Substrate, and FC-BGA, enables precise responses to diverse customer requirements while providing rapid adoption of next-generation materials and process innovations. This comprehensive capability underscores LG Innotek’s readiness to play a leading role in the global semiconductor back-end market.

Looking ahead, LG Innotek will continue to drive transformation across future technology domains including electronics, mobility, and robotics, working alongside innovators that are reshaping the industrial landscape. By delivering value-driven solutions that go beyond supply, based on differentiated product performance and high technological completeness, LG Innotek aims to support customer success and contribute to establishing new benchmarks for the semiconductor packaging industry.

About LG Innotek

LG Innotek is at the forefront of driving future technological advancements in the electronics, mobility, and robotics industries, working hand in hand with customers to realize their visions.

Beyond mobile components, the company is expanding its business scope into core autonomous driving components such as sensing, communication, and lighting, as well as high-value-added substrate businesses for AI and semiconductors, thereby building a robust portfolio of business areas.