On October 25, Jiangsu Punowei, a controlled subsidiary of Chongda Technology, held a groundbreaking ceremony for its AI edge-chip substrate project in Qiandeng, Kunshan. The company framed it as the point where its high-end IC packaging substrate strategy moves from planning into actual construction.
Inside the AI edge-chip substrate project
"Edge AI chip substrate" is the phrase that separates this from ordinary PCB capacity. Edge AI — phones, PCs, cars, wearables, and other on-device hardware — demands more layers, tighter line width and spacing, better thermal handling, and stricter signal integrity than standard consumer boards. That puts it in the higher-value tier of packaging substrates.
A window for domestic substrates
For the past two years the AI compute story has centered on the data center: GPUs, HBM, advanced packaging. Edge AI hardware demand is now expanding as local inference models spread. Domestic substrate capacity has long relied on imports, making this one of the more certain gaps in the supply chain to close.
What it means for the PCB supply chain
Groundbreaking is only the start. Three signals will decide whether this line matters: how fast capacity ramps, how customer qualification progresses (especially whether it reaches mainstream SoC suppliers), and whether the product mix can climb from entry-level to high-end substrates.