Lee Jaeyong: "Advanced Packaging Is Key to AI Semiconductor Competition"... First Inspection of Yokohama Research Hub

First on-site inspection of APL two months after opening
Expanding research into next-generation materials and high-performance packaging
Seeking to strengthen cooperation with Japan's materials, parts and equipment ecosystem

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jaeyong visited the company’s advanced semiconductor packaging research center in Yokohama, Japan, to review progress in developing next-generation packaging technologies. As competition in AI semiconductors intensifies, the company plans to accelerate efforts to secure advanced packaging technologies by strengthening cooperation with Japanese materials, parts and equipment companies.

Samsung Electronics said Lee visited the Advanced Package Lab (APL), its advanced packaging research center in Yokohama, Japan, on November 1.

Lee reviewed the development of advanced package materials and process technologies with APL researchers and discussed ways to cooperate with Japan’s materials, parts and equipment industry. He also stressed the importance of securing advanced packaging technologies, a key to semiconductor competitiveness in the AI era. Officially opened on September 8, APL is Samsung Electronics’ packaging research center in Japan. This was Lee’s first on-site inspection there, about two months after its opening.

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jaeyong checks the status of packaging technology with Hiroichi Kawahira, vice president and head of Samsung Electronics' DS Research Japan lab (to Chairman Lee's left), and Takashi Kariya, executive director and head of the Advanced Package Lab (APL), at the APL, Samsung Electronics' advanced semiconductor packaging research center in Yokohama, Japan, on the 1st. Samsung Electronics.

Samsung Electronics established APL in Yokohama in 2023 to research package component technologies. Since 2024, it has been investing 40 billion yen (about 350 billion won) over five years to build a local research base. APL develops and verifies component technologies, including materials and processes, needed for advanced semiconductor packaging. It serves as a link between Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor design and manufacturing capabilities and Japan’s materials, parts and equipment technology ecosystem. The company plans to expand APL’s research scope to include developing next-generation process and materials technologies, such as wafer bonding and glass substrates, as well as new high-performance packaging structures for mass-producing low-power, high-performance semiconductors required in the AI era.

Samsung Electronics plans to distinguish APL’s research areas from those of the packaging research organization under its Semiconductor Research Center while fostering research and development synergies through close cooperation between the two organizations. It also plans to continue expanding its local research workforce and develop Yokohama into a global research and development (R&D) hub for next-generation packaging component technologies.

Samsung Electronics is seeking to strengthen cooperation with Japanese packaging materials, parts and equipment companies. Japan has many companies with world-class expertise in semiconductor materials, parts and equipment, as well as a well-developed industry-academia-research ecosystem, providing a favorable environment for technology cooperation and research and development.

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jaeyong is checking the status of packaging technology with Kawahira Hiroichi, head of Samsung Electronics' DS Research Japan lab and a vice president (left), and Kariya Takashi, head of the APL lab and an executive director, at Samsung Electronics' Advanced Package Lab (APL), its advanced semiconductor packaging research center in Yokohama, Japan, on the 1st. Samsung Electronics.

The Japanese government has also designated semiconductors and AI as strategic sectors and is expanding investment and support. Samsung Electronics plans to use Japan as a research hub for semiconductor technology development and expanded local cooperation. Yokohama, in particular, is close to Tokyo and home to a concentration of leading universities and research institutions, making it easier to recruit specialized research personnel. The city is also home to companies specializing in advanced packaging materials and equipment, making it a suitable location for technology cooperation with related businesses. Samsung Electronics plans to leverage Yokohama’s workforce and industry-academia-research infrastructure to develop APL into a research cooperation hub connecting the technological capabilities of Samsung Electronics and Japanese materials and equipment companies.

Advanced packaging is becoming increasingly important as a key technology that determines the performance of AI semiconductors. This is because technology that integrates different semiconductors, including graphics processing units (GPUs), high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and accelerator chips, into a single package directly affects an AI system’s bandwidth, power efficiency and thermal performance. In addition to its memory and logic semiconductor technologies, Samsung Electronics plans to secure key materials and equipment technologies needed to implement advanced packaging and continue developing technologies to strengthen the competitiveness of its next-generation products.

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