IC substrates in Kulim: AT&S takes CNBC International inside the AI chip boom
CEO Michael Mertin talks to Christine Tan on Managing Asia about the little-known layer that sits beneath AI processors and memory.
CNBC InternationalStory of Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.
Inside The Hidden Bottleneck In The AI Chip Boom
Three uploads, one standout. CNBC International's busiest new video took viewers to Kulim, in northern Malaysia, where the Austrian company AT&S makes IC substrates: the thin base layers beneath processors and memory that carry power and data around an advanced chip package. On Managing Asia, CEO Michael Mertin walks Christine Tan through the expansion there, the competition in the substrate market and how geopolitics is redrawing the supply chain. It has passed 100,000 views.
The comments read like a seminar with jokes. Several viewers argue that memory and connections between chips matter as much as raw computing power, one singles out a moment past the twelve-minute mark about doing more with the same number of people, and another teases that a part this "hidden" now has a fifteen-minute video of its own.
The other two uploads were quieter. Steve Sedgwick's Executive Decisions sat down with State Street CEO Ron O'Hanley, who turned down a job at Mellon Bank and then took it three months later, and the week closed with Dan Murphy interviewing Samia Bouazza of Abu Dhabi's 2PointZero, where AI "co-workers" are said to make up more than a tenth of the workforce.
The video with the most pull right now is a week-old CNBC Explains film on why Japan's weak yen is so hard to fix, carry trade and all. A month-old explainer on Italy's bank merger frenzy is still ticking along too.
Overall the channel ran a little below its usual daily pace. Among the money and business channels around its size, The Iced Coffee Hour and I Will Teach You To Be Rich had busy weeks, while Patrick Boyle and Your Rich BFF ran quieter than usual.
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What viewers say
It’s so hidden there is a 15 minute video about it on YouTube. 😂
@tominmtnvwSee it on YouTubememory and interconnects can matter just as much as raw compute.
@lucasbrown7338See it on YouTube
Public comments from the video's page on YouTube
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The videos drawing views on CNBC International right now
- Channel
- CNBC International
- Subscribers
- 1,450,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 800,554
- Videos published this week
- 3
- Video published
- September 26, 2026
- Video views so far
- 104,394
- Views on its first day
- 38,625
The numbers
Here is how CNBC International's week looks in figures.
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Which of these is the capital city of Japan, whose currency the yen is?
Tokyo is Japan's capital and home to the Bank of Japan's headquarters.
