The agreement with GlobalFoundries is particularly important considering TSMC's plans to establish advanced packaging operations in Arizona. The company intends to introduce CoWoS and 3D-IC packaging capabilities in the state before 2029 and has signed a 10-year agreement with Amkor Technology, which is building an advanced packaging facility in Peoria, Arizona, that is scheduled to begin production in early 2028.
As GlobalFoundries ramps up interposer production in New York in the first half of 2028, TSMC could potentially establish a largely domestic CoWoS supply chain that comprises logic dies manufactured in Arizona, silicon interposers produced in New York, and advanced packaging and testing performed by TSMC and/or Amkor in Arizona. For a while, HBM stacks would still have to be sourced from memory manufacturers in Asia, though both Micron and SK hynix intend to bring HBM assembly facilities to the U.S. already this decade, so it is safe to say that the U.S. will have a vertically integrated supply chain for production of advanced AI processors by 2029 – 2030.
There is a catch, though, as GloFo and TSMC have not disclosed how CoWoS assembly operations will be divided between TSMC and Amkor, or whether GlobalFoundries' interposers will be used in Arizona at all. Yet, GF's wording about a trusted U.S. manufacturing footprint strongly implies that its interposers will be primarily aimed at SiPs fabricated entirely in the U.S. Meanwhile, expanding interposer production alone will not increase the number of finished AI processors unless sufficient chip-on-wafer assembly and testing capacity is available.
The initial agreement covers five years and establishes a mechanism for further capacity additions. However, the companies have not disclosed the planned manufacturing volumes, capital expenditures associated with the expansion, or the breakdown of the $2 billion agreement. Furthermore, we yet have to find out how GF's manufacturing capabilities are aligned with CoWoS-S' advancements.
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Anton Shilov Social Links Navigation Contributing Writer Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.
decembermouse Their stock is only up ~2% on the news. I look forward to seeing what other deals they'll land. It'll be good to have domestic manufacturing for an increasing amount of important components. Reply
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/globalfoundries-to-produce-silicon-interposers-for-tsmcs-cowos-in-the-us-five-year-agreement-valued-at-usd2-billion#main
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