Samsung has removed Japan’s Ibiden from the supply chain for high density interconnect (HDI) boards for its Galaxy S23 smartphone series, TheElec has learned.
Ibiden had been a constant supplier HDI printed circuit boards for prior generations of the Galaxy S series.
The Japanese company’s removable seems to have to do with the company planning to sell its HDI factory in Beijing, sources said.
The expected buyer of the factory is not expected to continue manufacturing HDI there, they added.
Samsung will instead use HDI board supply from another Japanese company Meiko.
Meiko had also been a constant supplier to the Korean tech giant but with Ibiden’s removable its volume is expected to increase.
This means other PCB suppliers such as Korea Circuit and DAP will only see incremental increases in their HDI supply volume when it comes to the Galaxy S23 series compared to prior generations.
Samsung is also expected to ship fewer Galaxy S23 series than prior generations.
The HDI supply competition in Samsung’s mid-tier smartphone supply chain is also heating up.
Due to the slowdown of the smartphones market in China, Chinese companies are attempting to increase their board supply to Samsung.
Korea Circuit and DAP became the dominant supplier of smartphone boards to Samsung after Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Daeduck Electronics, and Isu Petasys exited the market starting in 2019.
