> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.sotkn.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Nvidia and Tesla put $2.8B into Samsung Electro-Mechanics substrates - URL: https://www.sotkn.com/wire/nvidia-tesla-2-8b-samsung-electro-mechanics-substrate-lines-wire/ - Published: 2026-10-23T11:58:26.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T11:58:26.000Z - Description: Nvidia (about ₩2.6tn) and Tesla (about ₩1.1tn) are reported to be funding FC-BGA substrate lines at Samsung Electro-Mechanics' Sejong plant, due in 2H 2028. Customers now pay for the capacity. - Author: Sean - Tags: #desk-wire `WIRE` · `SEMICONDUCTORS` · `SAMSUNG ELECTRO-MECHANICS` · Data as at 23 Oct 2026 The buyers are now paying for the factory. On **22 October 2026** Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper reported that Nvidia will put about **₩2.6 trillion** and Tesla about **₩1.1 trillion** into Samsung Electro-Mechanics, the Samsung affiliate that makes chip package substrates, to build FC-BGA lines at its Sejong plant. That is **₩3.7 trillion, about $2.8 billion**, against a Sejong expansion the company had already budgeted at ₩4.27 trillion. The new lines are due to start mass production in the second half of 2028\. On the [semiconductors layer](https://www.sotkn.com/stack/semiconductors/), this is the substrate under the AI chip becoming scarce enough that customers fund the capacity themselves. ## What happened 22 October 2026 · Maeil Business Newspaper, citing industry sources **Nvidia ₩2.6tn, Tesla ₩1.1tn, for FC-BGA lines at Sejong** FC-BGA is the multilayer substrate a GPU, CPU or switch chip sits on before it goes onto a board. Reuters carried the report the same day at $2.8 billion. Neither Nvidia nor Tesla has published the amounts The Tesla term **Money up front, guaranteed volume from 2029 to 2033** Tesla's share pays for part of the building and tools in exchange for five years of supply for its self-driving and Optimus chips. Construction is due to finish by the end of 2027, with tool-in and trial runs through the first half of 2028 The Nvidia term **Dedicated lines at Sejong and Busan, announced at GTC Berlin on 21 October** Nvidia named the partnership but gave no amount. Supply covers its AI compute and data center switch substrates, starting this year and running several years The budget it lands in **₩4.27tn at Sejong, filed on 28 September** The company's largest single-product investment, running to 31 May 2028 with mass production from September 2028\. A further ₩2.51tn goes to its Vietnam substrate plant, ₩6.78tn in all --- ## Why cash cares On paper, the two reported cheques equal about **87%** of the Sejong budget (our arithmetic). The true share is lower, because Nvidia's money also covers the Busan lines, and nobody has said how it splits. Either way, Samsung Electro-Mechanics is building most of a ₩4 trillion expansion with its customers' cash and has five years of Tesla volume booked before the first panel ships. That is how a seller's market looks in components. The same company's capacitors show it too. Some of its multilayer ceramic capacitors, the tiny parts that steady the power feeding an AI chip, were listed with a **61-week** factory lead time at distributor DigiKey on 22 October, up from 39 to 49 weeks in September. An order placed today arrives around the end of 2027\. Murata showed 17 weeks and Yageo 28 on the same comparison by iM Securities. TrendForce puts lead times across the AI server supply chain at 35 weeks, against about 12 in a balanced market. The company's components division ran at 91% utilisation in the first half, and it has disclosed about ₩2.4 trillion of capacitor supply contracts this year. The substrate side has started to lock up the same way. On 19 October the company signed a ₩360.5 billion, one-year supply deal with an unnamed memory maker for package substrates, its first substrate long-term agreement disclosed this year. ![Two-panel chart: the reported Nvidia and Tesla money against Samsung Electro-Mechanics' ₩4.27 trillion Sejong substrate budget, and capacitor lead times in weeks for Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Yageo, Murata and the AI server supply chain](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cd/10/cd10e222-131f-4ba4-b4a9-ca4214e8c12d/content/images/2026/10/semco-sejong-funding-and-mlcc-lead-times-print.png) **Figure: customers fund the line, and the capacitor queue runs past a year.** Maeil Business Newspaper 22 October and Yonhap 28 September for the money; Newspim 22 October for lead times. The 87% share is our arithmetic. ## The second-order read **Who gets paid.** Samsung Electro-Mechanics first: customer capital lowers the cost of its build, and the contracts fix volume through 2033\. Industry estimates in the Korean press put its FC-BGA operating margin near 30% now. Then the toolmakers and material suppliers that fill a ₩4 trillion substrate plant, paid on the build schedule whether or not the end market cools. The other high-end FC-BGA makers, Ibiden and Unimicron, get a higher price reference: when Nvidia and Tesla prepay one supplier, the others have a case to ask for the same. **Who pays.** Nvidia and Tesla, in cash they would normally keep, to jump a queue. It is the same move Nvidia made this week with [KYEC and Amkor](https://www.sotkn.com/wire/nvidia-1-1bn-kyec-amkor-3bn-substrate-capacity-wire/) in test and interposers, and it puts a price on the [substrate plan](https://www.sotkn.com/catalyst/nvidia-2-5x-substrates-300-percent-interposer-capacity/) Nvidia laid out with six suppliers. **Who carries the risk.** Samsung Electro-Mechanics, if the 2028 lines slip, yield late, or meet a softer market. A prepaid line is a promise of volume on a date. If it misses, the supplier owes volume it cannot yet make. **Stuck step.** The substrate and the capacitors around it, not the GPU die. The new Sejong lines do not reach volume until the second half of 2028, so substrate supply through 2027 comes from existing plants. For a primer on why the substrate is hard to make, see [IC substrates and ABF](https://www.sotkn.com/explained/ic-substrates-abf-explained/). ## Two cautions The amounts are reported, not filed. The ₩2.6 trillion and ₩1.1 trillion come from Maeil Business Newspaper, citing industry sources. Nvidia did not give a figure at GTC Berlin, and we found no company filing that names either buyer's amount. Distributor lead times are not contract terms. The 61-week figure is the factory standard lead time shown at a distributor. Large customers buying directly may get shorter dates. It is a sign of tightness, not the queue every buyer faces. ## What would change the view - A filing from Samsung Electro-Mechanics confirming the Nvidia or Tesla amounts, or giving the split between Sejong and Busan. - Ibiden or Unimicron announcing customer-funded lines of their own, which would make prepayment the norm in high-end substrates. - Capacitor lead times turning back below 30 weeks, which would show the shortage easing before the new capacity arrives. ## What to watch - **Samsung Electro-Mechanics' third-quarter results and call on 28 October**, for substrate and capacitor pricing, utilisation, and any comment on customer-funded capacity. Analyst consensus in the Korean press is ₩645.4 billion of operating profit, against ₩440.4 billion in the second quarter. - **Price increases.** The company has told some capacitor customers prices are going up. Watch whether the fourth quarter shows it. - **The Philippines capacitor plant**, which brokers say has been pulled forward to the first half of 2027. *Read: [the semiconductors layer](https://www.sotkn.com/stack/semiconductors/), [IC substrates and ABF](https://www.sotkn.com/explained/ic-substrates-abf-explained/), and [if substrates stay short to 2028](https://www.sotkn.com/analysis/if-substrates-stay-short-2028-where-cash-sticks/)* --- **Get the Wire.** A free brief every day, here and in your inbox. **[Subscribe free →](https://www.sotkn.com/#/portal/signup)** Not investment advice. Do your own research. Dollar figures use Reuters' rate of ₩1,322.44 per dollar. The 87% share is our arithmetic from the reported amounts and the 28 September filing. Featured image: photograph of processor package undersides by PantheraLeo1359531 on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0), cropped and colour-graded by Second Order. ## References 1. [Maeil Business Newspaper, "Samsung Electro-Mechanics to receive ₩3.7tn from Tesla and Nvidia for AI chip substrate lines" (Korean), 22 Oct 2026](https://www.mk.co.kr/news/business/12182880?ref=sotkn.com) 2. [Reuters via CNA, "Samsung Electro-Mechanics gets $2.8 billion chip investment from Tesla, Nvidia, report says", 22 Oct 2026](https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/samsung-electro-mechanics-gets-28-billion-chip-investment-tesla-nvidia-report-says-6481841?ref=sotkn.com) 3. [Yonhap, "Samsung Electro-Mechanics becomes a core Nvidia supplier: long-term AI substrate supply" (Korean), 21 Oct 2026](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20261021170900003?ref=sotkn.com) 4. [Yonhap, "Samsung Electro-Mechanics invests ₩6.7tn in Korea and Vietnam substrate expansion" (Korean), 28 Sep 2026](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20260928144851003?ref=sotkn.com) 5. [The Herald Business, "Order now, wait a year: MLCC and substrates join memory chips as coveted components", 21 Oct 2026](https://biz.heraldcorp.com/article/10909592?ref=sotkn.com) 6. [Newspim, "Samsung Electro-Mechanics MLCC lead time 61 weeks" (Korean), 22 Oct 2026](https://ir.newspim.com/news/view/20261022000747?ref=sotkn.com) 7. [Vegan News, "Samsung Electro-Mechanics to hold Q3 results conference call on 28th" (Korean), 13 Oct 2026](https://www.vegannews.co.kr/news/article.html?no=392358&ref=sotkn.com) 8. [Wikimedia Commons, PantheraLeo1359531, "AMD- und Intel-Mikroprozessoren 20241004 HOF5738" (CC BY 4.0), 4 Oct 2024](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AMD-%5Fund%5FIntel-Mikroprozessoren%5F20241004%5FHOF5738%5FRAW-Export.png?ref=sotkn.com)