Intel Takes on TSMC with 'Half-Price Packaging Technology' [Taiwan Chip Communication]

Intensifying Race for Leadership in Advanced Packaging
EMIB-T Costs 50% Lower than CoWoS
Mass Production Near as Yield Rate Surpasses 90%

Intel is accelerating its efforts to capture the artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor packaging market by leading with its next-generation advanced packaging technology, EMIB-T. This intensified competition in the advanced packaging sector is expected to heat up further, as Intel has managed to halve the cost compared to “Chip on Wafer on Substrate” (CoWoS), the flagship packaging technology from TSMC, while also raising yield rates to mass-production levels.

According to Taiwan’s Economic Daily News on August 8, Intel’s EMIB-T yield rate has recently surpassed 90 percent. Industry insiders believe full-scale mass production will be possible from next year.

Cost competitiveness is also one of Intel’s main weapons. The manufacturing cost of EMIB-T is reported to be about 50 percent lower than that of TSMC’s CoWoS.

CoWoS is TSMC’s proprietary packaging technology and one of the most prominent 2.5D packaging architectures. In this approach, high-bandwidth memory (HBM) is strategically placed around a central system-on-chip (SoC) processor, such as a graphics processing unit (GPU) for AI, with a silicon interposer acting as an intermediary substrate connecting these components.

While CoWoS relies on a silicon interposer, Intel’s EMIB achieves chip-to-chip connection by embedding a small silicon bridge within the substrate instead of using an interposer.

EMIB-T further incorporates through-silicon via (TSV) technology, which simplifies the manufacturing process and reduces cost.

Intel is also accelerating its efforts to secure customers. Taiwan’s fabless company MediaTek recently announced during an earnings call that it plans to develop a variety of ultra-large AI application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) utilizing both CoWoS and EMIB-T. It is also reported that global big tech companies such as Broadcom and Meta are considering adopting EMIB-T.

However, industry experts view EMIB-T as more likely to supplement the current supply shortage of TSMC’s CoWoS rather than immediately replacing it. They analyze that Intel will likely absorb a portion of customer demand amid a surge in AI semiconductor demand that has made CoWoS supply tight.

In the long term, it is expected to have a positive effect on the expansion of Intel’s foundry business as well. By leveraging its advanced packaging competitiveness to attract external clients, Intel could further strengthen its foundry business capabilities.

The background for this heated competition in advanced packaging lies in both the surge in AI semiconductor demand and an ongoing packaging supply shortage. As the importance of packaging technologies that connect HBM and GPUs in the production of high-performance semiconductors such as NVIDIA’s AI accelerators continues to grow, foundry companies are now racing to secure packaging capabilities in addition to advancing into finer process nodes.

Recently, TSMC has also begun developing advanced packaging technology with a structure similar to Intel’s EMIB. This move appears to be a strategy to address supply shortages with CoWoS and to prevent customer attrition.

Samsung Electronics, too, is strengthening its next-generation 2.xD packaging technology and turnkey (memory, foundry, packaging) strategy, which is expected to further accelerate competition in the advanced packaging sector.

Taiwan Economic Daily News = Reporter Ryeoryeong Jong / Translation by The Asia Business Daily

*This column is published as part of a strategic partnership between The Asia Business Daily and Taiwan Economic Daily News.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.