2024.06.24News
Fan-out for panel-level packaging is taking off, while companies including Innolux, OSAT, and TSMC see breakthroughs.
- Yujuan Chen / Hsinchu
- 2024-06-24
In recent years, "Fan-Out Panel Level Packaging" (FOPLP) technology has become a rare challenge to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Samsung Electronics, and Intel in the field of advanced packaging.
Not only did AU Optronics pioneer the field by collaborating with Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), but OSAT manufacturers such as Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) and ChipMOS Technologies also accelerated their research and deployment of production lines. The most watched among them is TSMC, which has CoWoS technology and capacity advantages, and is seen as gaining momentum in the race.
According to equipment suppliers, with the increasing demand for FOPLP, several customers have released equipment orders, making it another hot area following the CoWoS and HBM technologies. This includes partnerships with companies such as Unimicron, Dongshan Precision, King Yuan Electronics, Yageo, Linpak, and Chipbond, among others.
As transistor miniaturization has reached physical limits, semiconductor technology development is shifting towards post-packaging processes. Advanced packaging has been seen as a key to continuing Moore's Law, and TSMC, Intel, and Samsung, which have front-end process advantages and ample resources, have a technical advantage over traditional OSAT manufacturers and are controlling the development of IC packaging technology. TSMC developed integrated fan-out packaging in 2016, followed by focusing on "wafer-level fan-out packaging" (FOWLP).
However, the size limitation of wafer equipment has led to the development of FOPLP in recent years. Using this technology for packaging ICs has led to significant improvements in volume, performance, and cost structure. In addition to TSMC's CoWoS technology, it has helped the company to maintain its position in AI and HPC chip markets, including addressing NVIDIA's AI GPU shortage. This has accelerated research and development into the FOPLP technology by various parties, with a focus on capacity and cost advantages, seeking a breakthrough in the advanced packaging market.
In 2019, the Industrial Technology Research Institute began developing FOPLP, claiming that the process substrate utilization could reach 95%. This technology, along with IC packaging heterogeneous integration trends and additional integration of circuit designs with 5G communication filtering functions, makes the packaged ICs suitable for various applications such as 5G communication and IoT devices, contributing to the miniaturization of consumer electronics.
AU Optronics, which was among the first to enter the FOPLP technology field 8 years ago, has sought to transform its production lines, collaborating with ITRI under the support of the A+ Plan from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to enter the semiconductor packaging field. The company has already sent samples to multiple customers for verification and plans to start mass production in 2024.
It has been reported that AU Optronics has secured orders from a large IDM company in Europe, and the initial capacity has been fully booked, with shipments scheduled to start in the third quarter. The company has also begun the second phase of its expansion plan. In addition, there are reports of Intel's interest in collaborating with AU Optronics on glass substrate packaging technology.
Equipment suppliers believe that FOPLP technology is still in its early stages, and controlling panel warping remains challenging. Major players in the market have already deployed strategies based on market supply and demand, and are unlikely to give AU Optronics a chance to gain a foothold.
Companies such as ASE and ChipMOS Technologies have recently released orders for 600x600 mm panel-size equipment. Currently, ChipMOS Technologies has support from Apple and AMD, but mass production will not begin until 2025.
TSMC will not allow competitors to challenge or replace CoWoS, and has also begun to accelerate the development of FOPLP, with the supply chain receiving small equipment orders. For example, Unimicron is gradually supplying CoWoS and FOPLP equipment.
Equipment suppliers believe that TSMC, Intel, and Samsung's advantages in providing end-to-end advanced packaging services with advanced front-end and back-end processing capabilities continue to raise the entry barrier for advanced packaging technology, helping 2.5D/3D stacking technology to take the lead.
In particular, TSMC has secured most of the AI and HPC chip customer orders. With most customers considering advanced front-end processing and advanced packaging to be closely linked, they are unlikely to change their back-end packaging cooperation mode easily. There are also not many customers who can afford advanced processing and advanced packaging.
For traditional OSAT manufacturers, the competition in the advanced packaging market has been lost at the starting line. Currently, they can only act as subcontractors for the three major players, such as TSMC's CoWoS outsourcing, mainly for overflows of orders from customers such as NVIDIA and Google, where demand exceeds supply. However, they also focus on silicon intermediates and WoS production capacity.
With TSMC's expansion of advanced packaging capabilities and its control of advanced processing orders, OSATs or Samsung and Intel have very few opportunities left to share the pie. To the equipment supply chain, TSMC will remain the largest customer.
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