With advanced packaging capacity at TSMC being tight, the expansion of CoWoS has garnered significant attention. According to a report from Economic Daily News, Jun He, Vice President of Advanced Packaging Technology and Service at TSMC, noted at SEMICON Taiwan 2024 that the foundry giant is rapidly expanding its advanced packaging capacity to meet customer demands.

The company expects CoWoS capacity to grow at a compound annual growth rate of over 50% from 2022 to 2026, with high-speed expansion continuing at least until 2026.

During Jun He’s keynote at the “3D IC/CoWoS for AI Summit – HIGS Series Event” on September 4, He joked that due to severe supply shortages, he refrained from including numbers in his presentation, as customer complaints about insufficient capacity were frequent.

In response to strong customer demand, Jun He revealed that TSMC will continue to rapidly expand its advanced packaging capacity through 2026, with increased construction speeds. For CoWoS capacity, the time to build an advanced packaging plant has been reduced from three to five years to within two years, or even a year and a half.

He noted that the strong demand for advanced packaging is driven by the cost reduction benefits of chiplet design. The successful development of chiplets relies on advanced packaging, prompting TSMC to actively promote the 3DFabric Alliance to accelerate innovation and development within the 3D IC ecosystem.

Mike Hung, Senior Vice President of ASE echoed Jun He’s views, noting that the industry has learned valuable lessons from the 2.5D packaging sector since its mass production in 2013. ASE has been partnering with TSMC to boost their CoWoS capacities.

He added that further standardization of equipment or materials would be advantageous for accelerating industry innovation.

Take panel-level packaging as an example, he noted that while the technology could help  increased efficiency thanks to the transition from round to square substrates, it also presents challenges in areas like equipment and materials.

Jun He added that advancing packaging requires efforts from partners in advanced packaging materials and HBM to drive progress collectively.

On the other hand, DJ Lee, Director and COO of PCB leader ZDT Group, suggested that as the industry progresses, packaging substrates will trend towards higher layers, larger areas, flatness, and precise designs. To meet the semiconductor-level requirements, substrate manufacturers will need to enhance their smart manufacturing capabilities.

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(Photo credit: TSMC)