Ajinomoto raises prices 30% amid AI chip supply shortage

The company best known for inventing MSG seasoning is now one of the most important bottlenecks in the global AI supply chain. Ajinomoto confirmed a roughly 30% price increase on its Ajinomoto Build-up Film, the insulation material that sits inside virtually every advanced AI chip package on the planet. The hike, being rolled out on a client-by-client basis, reflects a supply shortage that analysts expect to persist well into 2027 and possibly beyond. With over 95% market share in ABF, Ajinomoto doesn’t really have competitors breathing down its neck. Sekisui Chemical holds the remaining sliver at around 5%. A seasoning company running the AI supply chain ABF is a thin resin film that acts as an insulating layer in the substrates of high-performance processors. Every advanced GPU, every AI accelerator, every high-end ASIC needs it. Ajinomoto stumbled into this business through its amino acid chemistry expertise, the same science behind MSG. The company parlayed that knowledge into semiconductor materials decades ago, and its dominance has only grown as AI chips have gotten more complex. The supply gap keeps widening The 30% price increase didn’t come out of nowhere. Palliser Capita...