TSMC's advanced packaging capacity, particularly for CoWoS (Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate), remains fully booked, according to industry sources cited by Taiwan's Economic Daily News. This tightness is driving some back-end advanced packaging orders to spill over to Intel's Malaysia operations, which are supporting shared major customers.
The spillover is expected to benefit Taiwan's Unimicron and ASE (Advanced Semiconductor Engineering), which are key players in the semiconductor packaging and testing supply chain. Unimicron, a major substrate supplier, and ASE, a leading OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) provider, are positioned to gain from the increased demand.
Intel's EMIB-T (Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge with TSV) technology is gaining momentum as an alternative for advanced packaging, particularly for AI and high-performance computing applications. The company's Malaysia operations are reportedly ramping up capacity to accommodate the additional orders.
While TSMC remains the dominant player in advanced packaging, the current capacity crunch highlights the growing importance of alternative solutions and the resilience of the broader supply chain. The situation is fluid, and market dynamics could shift as new capacity comes online.
