Marvell Shores Up Chip Substrates and Doubles Indian Engineering Ranks in Twin Bet on AI Plumbing

Marvell signs advanced IC substrate supply deal with AT&S and plans to double its India R&D footprint, as data centers reach about 75% of revenue.

Marvell Technology is moving on two fronts at once, locking down the physical foundations of future AI hardware while scaling up the engineering muscle needed to design it. The US chipmaker has struck a supply agreement for advanced IC substrates with Austria-based AT&S, even as it lays out plans to double its research and development footprint in India over the next three years.

The substrate deal addresses what industry insiders regard as a pressure point in the semiconductor supply chain. As data centers shift away from monolithic silicon toward modular chiplet designs and optical interconnects, the demands placed on carrier materials have escalated sharply — larger formats, more interconnect layers and far tighter integration density. Marvell's arrangement with AT&S, which will manufacture at its expanding facility in Kulim, Malaysia, is aimed squarely at that technological bottleneck. Vinay Krishna, Marvell's Chief Supply Chain Officer, and AT&S CEO Michael Mertin are steering the cooperation.

Securing capacity for such highly complex substrates amounts to a competitive edge, particularly for rivals without firm supply commitments. It also underscores how deliberately Marvell has reshaped its business profile: data centers accounted for roughly 40 percent of revenue in fiscal 2024, a share that now stands at about 75 percent. Optical networking products and partnerships with the likes of Google have driven that shift.

India Becomes the Design Engine

On the other side of the equation sits Marvell's engineering base. India already accounts for around a quarter of the company's global workforce, and more than 90 percent of those employees are engineers. The planned expansion will add new laboratories and test infrastructure while growing the company's sites in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, all in response to surging demand for application-specific processors and optical connectivity technology.

The strategic emphasis is shifting, too. Having built out connectivity within data centers, Marvell is increasingly turning to custom network solutions and workload-specific processors. Management believes this segment could eventually represent a larger market than the business for accelerator chips themselves, with concrete roadmap details expected at the company's investor day on October 6.

Wall Street has taken note. Analyst Jay Goldberg highlighted Marvell's favorable positioning in optical components and custom architectures, noting the company's close collaboration with major industry players. Goldberg initiated coverage of the stock with a buy rating and a price target of $270.

Momentum Meets a Pause

The operational expansion lands against a backdrop of powerful market momentum. The shares have climbed 206 percent since the start of the year, fueled by the robust global investment wave in AI infrastructure. In yesterday's session the stock traded at EUR 229.20, leaving it 21 percent below its 52-week high.

Tuesday's trading brought a modest pullback, with the stock down 2.6 percent at EUR 223.30. Such short-term swings do little to alter the broader trajectory toward ever more densely packed computing nodes — a trend that rewards specialists capable of solving the structural hurdles of data transmission. Raw compute power counts for little if the connections and carrier materials cannot keep pace.

Marvell appears to have recognized early that the future of semiconductor architecture does not rest on the chip alone. Between long-term substrate supply contracts and a doubling of its Indian design ranks, the company is laying foundations meant to carry it through the next stage of global data center buildout — and to defend its position when the coming chip generations arrive.