Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) Chairman Wei Zhejia announced at a press conference last week that the company is actively developing fan-out panel-level packaging technology (Fan-Out Panel-Level Packaging, referred to as FOPLP) and plans to enter mass production in 2027. Production is expected to significantly improve the performance and production capacity of semiconductor packaging.
TSMC’s advanced packaging technology is in short supply
Readers who are concerned about recent semiconductor news must be aware of the recent news that CoWoS packaging technology production capacity is extremely scarce. It was reported this week that Huang Renxun, the founder of Huida, who came to Taiwan in June this year, personally visited TSMC and requested that "TSMC can set up Huida's exclusive CoWoS production line outside the factory." However, TSMC executives were rejected Strong refusal:
Will Huida pay? Should TSMC also set up a wafer production line specifically for Huida outside the factory?
People in the technology industry said that it is not unreasonable for TSMC to refuse, because once it agrees to Huida, major customers such as Apple, AMD and Qualcomm will ask for similar procedures, and the consequences will be difficult to deal with. Moreover, TSMC's CoWoS production capacity is currently in short supply and mass production is difficult. It took TSMC many years to overcome the yield problem, and the patents are also in TSMC's own hands.
What is FOPLP? Differences from CoWoS?
To put it simply, advanced packaging is the integration of different types of chips (logic chips, memory, radio frequency chips...) through packaging and stacking technology to improve chip performance, reduce size, and reduce power consumption.
Now many high-end AI chips have adopted CoWoS technology and mainly use TSMC's 2.5D CoWoS packaging process, including Huida's H100 and A100 GPUs. Previously, foreign investors have pointed out that Huida is currently the largest customer of TSMC's 2.5D CoWoS production capacity. The proportion reaches 40% ~ 50%.
As TSMC's tight CoWoS production capacity became a major bottleneck for Huida's AI chip production last year, Huida had previously stated at an investor meeting that it had developed and certified the production capacity of other suppliers in the key processes of CoWoS and expected chip supply in the next few quarters. Can be gradually increased.
As a more advanced technology, "FOPLP" has attracted much attention recently because it uses square substrates for IC packaging, which can use space more efficiently and improve production efficiency compared with traditional circular substrates.
Advantages of FOPLP
The core advantage of FOPLP technology lies in its efficient space utilization. Using square substrates for IC packaging, more chips can be placed in the same area, up to 7 times as many, thus improving production efficiency and reducing material waste. and reduce costs.
This is an important technological advancement for the semiconductor industry and can significantly improve the performance and energy efficiency of chips. In addition, FOPLP technology also has good heat dissipation performance and low resistance characteristics, which make it very suitable for applications in areas such as high-performance computing and power management.
TSMC expects that FOPLP technology will gradually mature in the next three years and achieve large-scale mass production in 2027.
Challenges facing FOPLP
Although FOPLP technology has significant advantages, it still needs to overcome some challenges, such as panel warpage, uniformity and yield issues, which mainly come from the complexity and high-precision requirements of the manufacturing process.
However, with the continuous advancement of technology and the continuous efforts of enterprises, these challenges are expected to be solved in the future. NVIDIA also plans to bring FOPLP technology online in advance to 2025, showing the huge market potential of this technology and the demand for AI chips.
What are the FOPLP concept stocks?
In addition to TSMC, the following major manufacturers have benefited and stimulated their stock prices:
- ASE Technology Holding Co.: ASE Technology Holding Co. has strong capabilities in the field of packaging and testing and is an important participant in FOPLP technology.
- Innolux Corporation : Innolux Corporation deployed FOPLP technology a few years ago, and its stock price has soared as a result.
- Tong Hsing Electronic Industries Ltd .: Tong Hsing Electronic Industries Ltd. has successively launched machines corresponding to panel-level fan-out packaging, and has successively achieved shipment results.
- GIS Holdings : GIS Holdings benefited from equipment shipments such as MicroLED and panel-level packaging FOPLP, and its stock price was stimulated.
- Xintec Inc .: Xintec Inc., a subsidiary of Sinosteel, has entered into panel-level fan-out packaging (FOPLP), which has attracted market attention. The company said that shipments are expected to double from the second half to next year, coupled with the increase in demand for semiconductor targets, precious metals, etc. Well, as well as the benefits of the merger and acquisition of Sinosteel Fine Materials are showing, I am optimistic about next year. .
