TTM and the AI Board Stack
Richardson Dackam@richardsondx
−16.6%
since Oct 3
The idea
I believe AI servers demand far more sophisticated, higher-layer-count circuit boards than the market is pricing in, with the leading supplier still valued like a traditional industrial despite its data center segment growing over 90% a year. The portfolio concentrates in that supplier alongside connector and interconnect makers, laminate and plating-chemistry suppliers, and the inspection tools denser boards require, while skipping server assemblers since their economics run on labor and execution rather than board content.
What it owns
- Every denser board needs more connectors, cables and signal chips to move data on and off it. · AmphenolIt sells the high-speed connectors that tie AI server boards together, so connector content per rack grows as boards become more sophisticated and multilayered., TE ConnectivityIt makes the sockets and cable assemblies on denser boards, pulling in more content as layer counts and signal speeds rise., Credo TechnologyIt makes active copper cables that carry signals between boards inside AI clusters, benefiting directly from the same board complexity the take describes., CoherentIt supplies the optical transceivers that carry signals when they leave the board, gaining from the same AI server density that drives higher layer counts., Astera LabsIt makes the chips that keep signals clean across ever-denser boards, a direct silicon play on board-complexity gains.46%
- Higher layer counts consume more advanced laminate material and plating chemistry per server. · Rogers CorporationIt supplies the advanced laminate materials those higher-layer-count boards are built from, so more sophisticated boards means more Rogers content per board., MKS InstrumentsIt owns the plating chemistry used to build up complex multilayer boards, so it gets paid per layer as board complexity rises., Element SolutionsIt sells the metallization chemicals every advanced board needs, so rising layer counts mean rising chemical volumes as boards grow more complex.31%
- Denser boards and substrates fail more ways, so inspection spend rises with complexity. · CamtekIt inspects the advanced packaging and substrates on top of these boards, getting paid when boards become harder to manufacture without defects., Onto InnovationIts inspection tools are what denser boards and substrates require to ship without defects, so complexity itself drives demand for its equipment.11%
- Cash12%