en.Wedoany.com Reported - On July 2, Leading Semiconductor Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with CITIC Securities as the sole sponsor. Leading Semiconductor is primarily engaged in the R&D, manufacturing, and sales of IC substrates, with products applied in smart devices, AI and HPC, memory, automotive/robotics, network communications, and other fields.
The core focus of Leading Semiconductor's listing application lies in advanced semiconductor packaging substrates. IC substrates sit between the chip and the printed circuit board, serving as key load-bearing components in advanced packaging, responsible for chip protection, circuit connection, signal transmission, power distribution, heat dissipation support, and size conversion. AI servers, HPC chips, 5G网络 equipment, memory, and automotive electronics impose higher requirements on packaging substrates in terms of circuit density, layer count, dimensional stability, warpage control, and reliability. Ordinary PCB processes struggle to directly replace the functional boundaries of high-end IC substrates.
Founded in August 2019, Leading Semiconductor's official website indicates that the company focuses on the global high-end semiconductor packaging substrate sector, primarily engaged in the R&D, manufacturing, and sales of IC substrates. Its products are not end-use chips but rather basic materials and interconnect structures serving the chip packaging process. Customer demand often originates from AI computing power, network communications, memory, automotive electronics, and high-performance computing equipment.
The manufacturing difficulty of high-end IC substrates lies in precision circuits, material control, and yield management. Substrate production involves processes such as drilling, plating, lamination, circuit fabrication, surface treatment, inspection, and reliability verification, requiring high standards for copper thickness uniformity, microvia processing, dielectric materials, impedance control, and clean environments. The Shenzhen Semiconductor Industry Association previously noted that Leading Semiconductor's project plans to build a high-end integrated circuit substrate intelligent manufacturing production line, employing technologies such as subtractive method, semi-additive process, modified semi-additive process, and embedded circuit method.
Behind these capital moves is the rising demand for packaging substrates driven by AI computing hardware. AI chips and high-performance processors typically require higher I/O counts, greater wiring density, and stronger power integrity. Packaging substrates must achieve high-speed signal transmission and power distribution within a limited area. With the expansion of AI servers, switches, storage devices, and in-vehicle computing platforms, high-end packaging substrates such as FC-BGA and FC-CSP have become more critical links in the semiconductor 智慧供应链. Zhen Ding Technology previously mentioned that Leading Semiconductor's independent listing could introduce international capital market resources and accelerate capacity expansion and technological upgrades for high-end IC substrates in AI applications.
Leading Semiconductor also has industrial chain connections with Zhen Ding Technology and Pengding Holdings. Zhen Ding Technology Holding previously disclosed that it indirectly holds a 60.75% stake in Leading Semiconductor through subsidiaries; Pengding Holdings' 2025 annual report also disclosed its investment in and shareholding changes in Leading Semiconductor.
Such companies filing for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is not merely a financing event. The high-end IC substrate industry requires continuous investment in factories, equipment, material verification, customer certification, and yield ramp-up, with heavy capital demands and long construction cycles. Leading Semiconductor previously disclosed equipment acquisitions; a late June announcement showed it acquired a batch of machinery and equipment with a transaction amount of approximately NT$1.008 billion. The proximity of equipment investment and the listing application indicates that the company is still in a phase of continuous capacity and process capability building.
