Domestic advanced packaging capacity expansion gains further momentum. On October 24, HT-Tech (002185.SZ) confirmed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's interactive platform that its Nanjing subsidiary is advancing the Phase II, Stage 2 project of the IC Advanced Packaging and Testing Industrial Base. With a total investment of CNY 3 billion, the project targets the storage chip packaging and testing sector to strengthen domestic supply chain capabilities.
In May this year, HT-Tech announced the approval of the investment proposal for this project, located in the Nanjing Pukou Economic Development Zone. By September 21, the new factory building for storage packaging and testing had successfully completed its structural topping-out, proceeding faster than expected. The company's latest response on the interactive platform regarding project progress has refocused market attention on the capacity expansion logic of China's leading packaging and testing firm.
CNY 3 Billion Invested in Storage Packaging: Nearly Two-Year Construction Period with Clear Capacity Targets
According to official disclosures, the project involves a total investment of CNY 3 billion, utilizing existing land at the Nanjing base for reconstruction and expansion. It includes the construction of approximately 83,300 square meters of new factory buildings and supporting facilities, along with the planned procurement of 2,772 units/sets of various production equipment. The construction period is scheduled from June 2026 to May 2028. The project focuses on a full-process packaging and testing line for storage integrated circuits. Upon completion and reaching full capacity, it is expected to package and test approximately 430 million storage chips annually, generating estimated annual revenue of CNY 2.15 billion and net profit of about CNY 126 million. Products will serve key sectors such as AI computing servers, data centers, automotive electronics, and consumer terminals, directly addressing the demand for domestic substitution of storage chips.
⚠️ Key Reminder: May 2028 is merely the planned completion date, not the official mass production start time. Subsequent phases including equipment installation, process debugging, yield ramp-up, and customer qualification require time. Actual production schedules should be based on future company announcements.
As one of the top three domestic and sixth-ranked global packaging and testing firms, HT-Tech's Nanjing base serves as its core hub for storage packaging and testing. This Phase II, Stage 2 expansion is not a generic advanced packaging concept project; its primary focus is on storage chip packaging and testing, aiming to fill gaps in the back-end manufacturing of the domestic storage industry chain and support the scaled delivery of domestically produced storage chips.
Advanced Packaging Takes Center Stage: Storage Is the Current Certainty-Driven Mainline
With Moore's Law slowing down, advanced packaging has evolved from a back-end chip manufacturing step into a critical breakthrough for enhancing computing power, bandwidth, and integration density. Technologies such as Chiplet, 2.5D/3D integration, wafer-level packaging, and high-density interconnects are reshaping the semiconductor competitive landscape. AI chips, HBM, high-performance computing, and automotive chips rely heavily on advanced packaging capabilities.
The market often directly equates advanced packaging projects with high-end computing packaging lines like CoWoS or HBM. However, clarification is needed: This CNY 3 billion Nanjing project primarily focuses on storage chip packaging and testing, with no announcement of deploying high-end computing packaging processes like CoWoS.
From an industrial rhythm perspective, domestic substitution in the storage sector is accelerating steadily. The scalable and stable delivery capability of storage packaging and testing is a rigid requirement for the industry chain. For HT-Tech, while increasing storage packaging capacity, it is simultaneously laying out high-end advanced packaging technologies such as 2.5D/3D, forming a tiered strategy: Storage packaging provides scale and cash flow foundation, while high-end advanced packaging positions for future computing demands.
Capacity expansion goes beyond just building factories and buying equipment. The barriers in advanced packaging and testing lie in continuous process iteration, yield optimization, and long-term customer qualification systems. Competition among domestic packaging and testing firms has shifted from pure capacity comparison to a comprehensive contest of process capabilities, delivery stability, and one-stop packaging solutions.
Three Key Observation Points Ahead: Equipment, Process, and Customer Onboarding
The implementation of the CNY 3 billion investment is only the starting point. Compared to the investment amount, the following variables will determine the project's value:
✅ Equipment Procurement Progress: Packaging and testing equipment has long lead times; the pace of equipment arrival directly determines when line debugging can begin.
✅ Storage Customer Onboarding Status: As the project focuses on storage packaging, the landing of orders from domestic storage manufacturers is a core highlight.
✅ Mass Production Ramp-Up Pace: Storage packaging imposes strict requirements on yield and consistency; the speed of mass production ramp-up affects the timeline for realizing performance gains.
Global semiconductor competition has extended from single-node semiconductor fabrication to dimensions involving advanced packaging + system integration. Packaging and testing firms are no longer secondary players in the industry chain but critical links in computing system performance. HT-Tech's Nanjing expansion represents a typical move by leading domestic packaging and testing firms to capitalize on the storage domestic substitution dividend, reflecting the ongoing upward expansion trend in the domestic packaging and testing industry.
In the long term, the resonant demand from domestic storage, AI computing, and automotive electronics ensures ample space in the advanced packaging and testing sector. However, the industry must also face multiple challenges including capacity cycles, price fluctuations, and overseas technology competition. Whether capacity expansion can smoothly translate into financial performance remains subject to continuous tracking and verification.
Note: Information in this article is derived solely from public disclosures by listed companies and does not constitute any investment advice.