Semiconductor equipment maker Youngtek Semiconductor is betting on inspection equipment for glass core substrates, a clear positive for the company's operations next year.

• Companies in Taiwan, Japan, the United States and South Korea working on glass technology are all in contact with the firm, and several international customers are already in talks over supplier qualification.
• The biggest challenge for glass substrates is reliability, and the bottleneck is inspection — existing equipment can only see the glass surface, not internal cracks.
• Youngtek's equipment can see through into the interior of the glass non-destructively, and can perform inspection at every station from laser modification and etching to copper plating and ABF build-up layers.
• The company also unveiled its production-model SP7000G micro-crack scanning system, which can scan a large-size glass substrate in 20 minutes.
• Youngtek is shifting its focus from its distribution business to in-house equipment, aiming to raise the share of revenue from its own equipment to 80–90%.

Outlook: Major international manufacturers are mostly targeting mass production of glass substrates in 2028, with large-scale engineering validation beginning in 2027. Customer purchases of laboratory-model tools next year are expected to lift Youngtek's performance markedly above this year's.