Samsung Electro-Mechanics has started mass production of FC-BGA substrates for Qualcomm AI200 at its Busan plant. Qualcomm is targeting a second-half 2026 launch; Samsung Electro-Mechanics is moving in lockstep.

The AI200 is Qualcomm’s first AI accelerator built specifically for data centers, unveiled last October. It pairs a custom Oryon CPU with a Hexagon NPU and runs on LPDDR5 memory, which trades raw bandwidth for power efficiency.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics has spent years supplying package substrates for Qualcomm’s application processors in phones and PCs. The AI200 deal marks the first time that the relationship bleeds into data center silicon.

Industry insiders say (via ZD Net) that the long-standing relationship made the AI200 supply agreement a relatively clean negotiation.

The AI250 is reportedly coming in 2027, which means Samsung Electro-Mechanics could be stacking recurring data center revenue on top of its mobile base.

The AI200 requires a lower performance threshold for FC-BGA compared to High Bandwidth Memory (HBM)-based AI accelerators. Therefore, the barrier to entry will be relatively low for LG Innotek, which is a latecomer to the FC-BGA industry.

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