Ibiden sees ¥89 billion net profit, adds ¥151 billion AI capex

Ibiden's upgrade builds on a demand shift the company describes in its own results. High-value-added semiconductor components for generative AI servers are driving earnings, and demand is broadening from GPUs used to train AI to CPUs used for inference. That broadening is the stated reason for adding CPU-oriented capacity at Kawama, where a production building completed in fiscal 2023 had been slow to reach full operation because demand for PCs and general-purpose servers had languished.

The new spending sits on top of a larger plan disclosed in February. Ibiden said then that it would put a total of 500 billion yen into the Kawama and Ono plants to raise fiscal 2028 production capacity for generative AI server products to roughly 2.5 times the current level on an area basis. With the addition, the current Kawama building is expected to reach a full-production setup.

Management is pointing further out. President Koji Kawashima said there is sufficient certainty about semiconductor demand strength through around 2030, and that if the planned capital investment is completed and volumes come through as planned, 1 trillion yen in company-wide sales becomes a realistic prospect. Ibiden's fiscal 2030 target calls for 280 billion yen in operating profit in its electronics business, which is centered on IC package substrates — the bulk of a company-wide goal of 300 billion yen or more. Kawashima also noted that supply of IC package substrates, including those for Nvidia, is tight and still short of customer requests, and that the company aims to finalize plans, including possible new plant buildings, within the current fiscal year.