Since 2025, the global glass industry has been accelerating its restructuring amid breakthroughs in high-end manufacturing and green circular transformation. Emerging tracks such as semiconductor packaging glass and efficient recycling have risen, driving the industry to shift from scale expansion to value enhancement. Data shows that the global specialty glass market size is expected to exceed 520 billion US dollars this year, with an annual growth rate of 8.2%—significantly higher than the industry average.
Technological breakthroughs have focused on addressing pain points in high-end manufacturing, enabling key leaps in semiconductor glass substrates. Enterprises including CSG Holding Group and Voyage Optoelectronics have mastered the core technology of TGV (Through-Glass Vias), reducing the minimum via diameter to 1 micron and lowering the warpage rate by 50% compared to international counterparts. Relevant products have been sampled to downstream chip enterprises. With Intel and Samsung planning to start mass production in 2026, the global advanced packaging glass substrate market is projected to achieve a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15.9% between 2025 and 2031, with the scale expected to exceed 3.7 billion US dollars, becoming a new growth engine for the industry. Meanwhile, the commissioning of BOE's 8-inch glass substrate pilot line has provided a domestic alternative for AI chip packaging.
The transformation towards a circular economy has yielded remarkable results, with the waste glass utilization system continuously improved. In 2024, China's waste glass recycling volume reached 11 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 12.24%, but the 46.88% recycling rate still leaves substantial room for improvement. On the policy front, China's 14th Five-Year Plan for Circular Economy clearly sets a target of 60% glass recycling rate by 2025, while the EU requires the recycling rate of packaging glass to reach 70% by 2030—forcing technological innovation. New optical sorting technology has reduced the sorting error rate to below 10%, and low-carbon melting processes have cut the energy consumption of recycled glass by 30%. The recycling price of high-end waste glass in East China has stabilized at 500-600 yuan per ton, highlighting the value of resource utilization.
Application scenarios continue to expand, with demand booming across multiple sectors. In the automotive industry, the installation rates of HUD windshields and panoramic sunroofs have reached 35% and 40% respectively, becoming standard equipment for mid-to-high-end models. In the construction sector, the penetration rate of Low-E energy-saving glass has exceeded 50%, and self-cleaning technology is accelerating its popularization. In the electronics sector, the application scale of ultra-thin flexible glass (UTG) in foldable screens has doubled, and the market share of glass-ceramic covers has risen to 30%.
Industry experts stated that the glass industry is entering a dual-driven era of "technological breakthroughs + resource recycling." Breakthroughs in semiconductor packaging, efficient recycling, and other fields will reshape the industrial landscape, driving the industry towards high-quality development in a high-value-added and sustainable direction.