Amazon will invest NT$1.59 billion, about $49.9 million, in Gold Circuit Electronics, a Taiwanese printed circuit board (PCB) maker that supplies major cloud providers with boards for their AI servers. Gold Circuit’s board approved a private placement capital increase on September 29, 2026, under which Amazon will subscribe to around 1.86 million new shares, according to the Taiwanese financial newspaper CTEE, as reported by Taiwan News.
Amazon’s investment in Gold Circuit in 20 seconds
- Amazon will pay NT$856 per share, a 23.6% discount to the day’s closing price.
- As of the end of August, it held no shares in the company.
- Gold Circuit also approved NT$7.9 billion for a new factory.
- Its multilayer boards are key components in AWS, Microsoft, and Google’s AI servers.
The amount is modest for a company Amazon’s size, but the move is significant for what it says about the AI supply chain. Hyperscalers are no longer just buying GPUs and their own chips: they are also starting to secure less visible components, such as the boards they’re mounted on, which have become another bottleneck.
A discounted private placement
Amazon will subscribe to exactly 1,856,308 new ordinary shares at NT$856 each. That price equals 76.4% of the NT$1,120 at which Gold Circuit’s stock closed on the day of the deal, a 23.6% discount. Neither Gold Circuit nor the Taiwanese press has specified what stake Amazon will hold after the deal.
A private placement involves issuing shares to selected investors rather than offering them on the open market. Gold Circuit said it chose this route after weighing capital market conditions, issuance costs, timing, the deal’s feasibility, and its business relationship with Amazon. According to CTEE, the funds will go toward strengthening working capital for the company’s long-term development. In Taiwan, shares obtained through a private placement cannot be freely resold for three years, which helps explain the discount.
At the same meeting, the board approved a budget of NT$7.9 billion, about $248 million, for a new factory: NT$3.8 billion for the land and NT$4.1 billion for construction, machinery, and equipment. The investment will be made in phases starting in the fourth quarter and, according to CTEE, will be financed with unsecured convertible bonds. The company has not said where the plant will be located.
Why AI server boards are so hard to make
PCBs are the base on which electronic components are mounted, with copper traces connecting them to each other. A personal computer or laptop typically has between four and eight layers. An AI server or a high-end network switch can need 20 to 30 layers or more, along with low-loss materials that allow signals to travel at very high speeds.
The more layers a board has, the harder it is to control interference between signals and maintain good manufacturing yield, meaning the proportion of boards that come out defect-free. Gold Circuit specializes precisely in these high-end multilayer PCBs and is one of the world’s leading suppliers of server boards. Its customers include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and Google.
Demand for these components has grown so much that the sector is already under strain, as AI has turned PCBs into another bottleneck with new price hikes, with that pressure spreading across the Taiwanese PCB supply chain, where CCL laminates and ABF substrates are now in the spotlight.
Amazon secures its supply chain
Neither Amazon nor Gold Circuit has explained the goal of the investment beyond the commercial relationship they already have. The logic, however, fits with where AWS is right now, as it expands its servers with in-house chips. The company is ramping up Trainium 3, its home-designed AI accelerators, and each new server needs high-end boards that few manufacturers can produce at volume.
Taking a stake in a supplier doesn’t guarantee capacity on its own, but it does tighten the relationship in a market where several major customers are competing for the same production. For Gold Circuit, having Amazon as a shareholder strengthens its position against other Taiwanese PCB manufacturers just as it prepares to expand capacity with a new factory.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is Amazon investing in Gold Circuit?
NT$1.59 billion, about $49.9 million, in exchange for 1,856,308 new shares at NT$856 each.
What does Gold Circuit make?
High-end multilayer printed circuit boards, mainly for servers and networking equipment. It supplies AWS, Microsoft, and Google.
Why is Amazon buying the shares at a discount?
It’s a private placement, where the price is typically below market value. Amazon is paying 76.4% of the stock’s closing price on the day of the deal.
How many layers does an AI server board have?
Between 20 and 30 layers or more, compared with four to eight in a PC or laptop.
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