China is rapidly increasing the volume of AI accelerators it ships for its data centers, and that growth is shifting part of the supply-chain pressure toward packaging and testing. DIGITIMES estimates that Chinese manufacturers will ship 2.123 million cloud AI accelerators in 2026, up 136% from a year earlier, while local OSAT companies such as JCET and Tongfu Microelectronics expand their capacity to meet that demand.
China’s AI accelerators in 30 seconds
- China could ship 2.123 million cloud AI accelerators in 2026.
- That volume would represent 136% year-over-year growth.
- Huawei would account for more than 50% of China’s market for these accelerators.
- Chinese chip suppliers would reach around 13% of the global market.
- JCET and Tongfu are among the OSAT makers benefiting from the rise in local production.
The most striking figure isn’t just the chip count. The expansion of China-designed accelerators is growing a part of the chain that has stayed in the background for years, behind wafer fabs and processor designers: outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT), the external services that assemble, package, and test semiconductors.
For AI accelerators, this stage carries an added difficulty. The chips need packages capable of connecting large amounts of memory and logic, managing heat, and delivering very high bandwidth. That’s why the shift toward higher-performance architectures is increasing the importance of advanced packaging technology. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) names ASE, Amkor, JCET, and Tongfu Microelectronics among the world’s leading OSAT specialists.
Huawei and Chinese ASICs drive up production volume
DIGITIMES’ forecast starts from a Chinese market for cloud accelerators that is changing through a combination of data-center investment, technology-substitution policy, and difficulty accessing certain U.S. accelerators. According to the analysis published in April 2026, Chinese manufacturers could deliver 2.123 million high-end units during the year.
Huawei would be the leading supplier, with more than half of the domestic market, though the growth doesn’t depend on a single company. The market includes third-party accelerators, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) developed by cloud service providers, and graphics processors designed inside China. The names cited include Cambricon, Alibaba’s T-Head Semiconductor, Baidu’s Kunlunxin, and Hygon Information Technology.
The rise in ASICs designed for specific AI workloads has a direct consequence for packaging. Each new family of accelerators has to go through assembly and testing before it becomes a usable component inside a server, and high-performance designs require more complex packaging processes than conventional chips.
The OECD explains that, after wafer fabrication, chips are cut, packaged, and tested before reaching the market. It also notes that the leading semiconductor manufacturers are building in-house capacity for the most advanced packaging, which limits the room available to independent OSAT firms at the high end of the market.
JCET and Tongfu prepare more capacity for AI
In China, companies such as Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology (JCET) and Tongfu Microelectronics are increasing their exposure to semiconductors aimed at high-performance computing. DIGITIMES’ own sector tracking identifies both companies among the OSAT providers tied to the rapid growth of cloud AI accelerators.
JCET, one of the world’s largest assembly and test providers, has directed part of its investment toward high-performance computing applications and advanced OSAT packaging. A recently announced expansion covers capacity for high-performance computing, memory, and wafer-level packaging technologies.
Tongfu also holds a significant position within the Chinese chain and has experience with memory products and processors. The company also maintains an industrial relationship with AMD through TF-AMD Microelectronics, which shows that Chinese assembly and test capacity isn’t limited to chips designed inside the country.
This move lines up with a broader trend. The growth of AI data centers is pushing OSAT providers to invest in wafer-level packaging, heterogeneous integration, and 2.5D and 3D solutions. In these designs, packaging stops being a relatively simple final manufacturing step and starts to shape the system’s overall performance.
That 13% doesn’t mean China dominates the global market
There’s an important difference between the growth of Chinese production and its global weight. DIGITIMES calculates that Chinese suppliers of cloud AI accelerators could account for around 13% of the global market in 2026. That figure doesn’t refer to the global share held by Chinese OSAT firms, but to the projected share of Chinese accelerator manufacturers.
The distinction matters because the original figure could be misread as a packaging market share. Available public data doesn’t support the claim that Chinese OSAT firms control 13% of the global market for packaging AI accelerators.
DIGITIMES’ forecast also shows the limits the Chinese industry still faces. Among the obstacles are manufacturing yields on advanced nodes, the supply of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), and reliance on Nvidia’s CUDA software ecosystem. A higher number of chips manufactured, then, doesn’t automatically translate into computing capacity comparable to leading international accelerators.
Progress in Chinese packaging could ease one of that chain’s bottlenecks. As Huawei and other local designers scale up their volumes, having domestic suppliers able to assemble and test the processors helps keep more production stages inside the country.
The technical question will be what level of packaging these companies can reach, and what share of the most advanced accelerators they can process with adequate yields. The latest generation of AI accelerators combines large compute arrays with HBM memory and high-speed connections, raising the bar for manufacturing, assembly, and validation.
China is simultaneously increasing its design, manufacturing, and packaging capacity for AI chips. The volume projected for 2026 shows that replacing imported accelerators already has a sizable industrial dimension, but the available data also reflects that the local chain still faces technical constraints before it can compete across the entire global market.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many cloud AI accelerators will China ship in 2026?
DIGITIMES estimates that Chinese manufacturers will ship 2.123 million high-end accelerators during 2026, up 136% from 2025.
What global share will Chinese accelerators hold?
DIGITIMES’ forecast puts Chinese manufacturers at around 13% of the global market for cloud AI accelerators in 2026.
Which Chinese OSAT companies are ramping up activity?
JCET and Tongfu Microelectronics are among the assembly and test providers tied to the growth of Chinese AI accelerators.
What does OSAT mean?
OSAT stands for Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test. These are companies that specialize in assembling, packaging, and testing chips after they’re fabricated on wafers.
