TSMC Preps To Ramp Up Glass Substrate For NVIDIA In Race Against Intel & Samsung, First Chips To Drop By 2025-2026

Glass substrates have become the topic of buzz in the semiconductor markets, as a new report shows that TSMC and Intel are looking to expand their R&D efforts aggressively with NVIDIA also prioritizing the use of the technology in future chips.

With the AI markets rapidly expanding, the need for innovative technologies has grown massively, especially to continue the process of upgrades in generational performance. Firms like NVIDIA have utilized techniques such as architectural advancements, but modern-day hardware, specifically accelerators, are built with a whole lot more components, with a crucial one being the packaging technology, and the industry sees glass substrates as a way to move forward from the traditional CoWoS packaging.

A report by DigiTimes claims that TSMC, Intel, Samsung Electronics, and Huawei are heavily investing in the glass substrate R&D process to achieve a breakthrough, but since the method is naive, there's still a long road to go. Interestingly, the firm in the lead is none other than Intel since Team Blue has unveiled its glass substrate plans for over a decade now and is said to have capabilities for mass production, too, being ahead of all others in the race.

Apart from this, TSMC is said to be developing glass substrates for its future FOPLP packaging, upon the demand for NVIDIA, and it is said that the technology will utilize glass substrates dominantly and is said to bring numerous benefits, especially in terms of the increase in die size and transistor per area ratios. Given TSMC's proficiency in this particular segment, a "timing edge" given to Intel won't have much of an effect on the Taiwan giant, given that it has the trust of mainstream clients in the markets.

Interestingly, the report claims that numerous Taiwanese manufacturers see glass substrate as an "investment for the future," which is why firms like Titanium have allied, placing all glass substrate equipment makers in a single spot. This new alliance is being labeled as "E Core".

As the AI hype transitions into the next step, it's evident that glass substrates are going to play a massive role moving into the future, and in terms of when we can expect them to drop into the markets, a previous coverage disclosed that major manufacturers are aiming at a 2025-2026 window for the solutions to drop into the markets, with Intel and TSMC being at the very forefront.