TSMC is the world's number 1 chip foundry, while Amkor is the world's second largest chip packaging and testing service provider. This event marks an important victory in the effort to recreate the chip supply chain in the US.
Accordingly, modern chip packaging activities today are all concentrated in Taiwan (China). Therefore, the two "giants" in the industry bringing advanced technology to the US will expand the US semiconductor ecosystem and optimize the production cycle.
TSMC's key customers at the Arizona factory in the US are Nvidia, AMD and Apple. This trial production has started since the middle of this year and is expected to be mass produced in 2025.
TSMC also committed to increasing its investment in the US to $65 billion, while Amkor will invest in a $2 billion chip packaging and testing plant in Peoria, Arizona.
Under the agreement, TSMC will use the available chip packaging and testing service from Amkor's plant. This Taiwanese chip maker will use these services to support customers.
For leading chipmakers such as TSMC, Intel and Samsung, advanced chip packaging has emerged as an important "front" . Assembly and stacking technology is needed to improve chip performance and activate AI computing, especially as traditional methods of increasing semiconductor ball density under the Moore Law are increasingly difficult.
The explosion of generative AI has further increased the demand for advanced chip packaging. Nvidia also uses TSMC's CoWoS chip packaging technology to connect high-performance graphics processors with high bandwidth, thereby enhancing computing capabilities.
However, CoWoS technology still has limitations that are considered a "potential bottleneck" in the deployment of AI data center infrastructure.
Previously, US policymakers and chip industry leaders were concerned that advanced chip manufacturing would take place domestically but still require the transportation of chips to Asia for testing and packaging. To address this issue, the US has allocated an additional $1.6 billion to support the development of advanced chip packaging capabilities in the country.
TSMC and Amkor will jointly develop specific packaging technologies, such as Integrated Fan-Out (InFO) and TSMC's CoWoS, to meet customer needs.
It is known that InFO is a type of chip packaging technology that Apple has long used to link memory chips with processors in iPhone and Macbook core chips.
