Recent Advancements in TSMC Packaging Technology

September 2025

Introduction: For much of the past half-century, the relentless miniaturization of transistors fueled an era of rapid progress by designing faster chips with lower power consumption and reduced costs. However, transistor miniaturization alone can no longer deliver the performance gains demanded by emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC). Further gains become increasingly difficult and limited by the packaging parasitic of parasitic effects. This inflecting point has led to look beyond the silicon die itself for new avenues of packaging advancement. Advanced IC packaging technologies now play a central role in determining the speed, efficiency, and reliability of modern chips. The focus has shifted from merely housing the die for protection to actively managing signal integrity, power delivery, and heat dissipation. Modern AI and HPC applications require chips to process massive datasets at unprecedented speeds. These chips require enormous parallel processing capabilities and ultra-fast data movement. Advanced IC packaging addresses these needs by enabling multi-die integration in a single package, shortening interconnect distances, and supporting higher bandwidths—all of which are critical for accelerating AI workloads. Packaging now allows the integration of logic, memory, sensors, and analog components into a single package creating highly functional and compact systems-in-package (SiPs). 

Advanced multi dies in a single package solution, such as 2.5D and 3D integration, enable high-bandwidth connections between multiple dies, supporting faster data transfer and improved computational throughput. Innovative packaging architectures must reduce power loss and enable finer control over voltage and current, directly impacting chip performance and energy efficiency. Incorporating materials and designs that optimize heat dissipation, allowing chips to operate at higher speeds without overheating.  TSMC as a world leader IC fab has emerged as a pioneer in advanced packaging technology. Recognizing that AI and HPC depends as much on packaging as on transistor scaling, TSMC has developed several packaging solutions that enable system-level scaling and heterogeneous integration. These platforms are chip-on wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS), integrated fanout (InFO), and system-on-integrated-chips (SoIC). These platforms are at the heart of AI hardware innovation. In this article we will elaborate on those technologies to we will present a brief overview of traditional packaging technologies, followed by the current advancements in TSMC packaging technology and finally comparing TSMC packaging technology with its competitors.   

Brief Review of Conventional Packaging technology: The main purpose of the IC package is to provide protection to fragile die and to provide connections to external components on the printed circuit board (PCB). The die is encapsulated within a case to be protected from contamination, corrosion and mechanical damage. Over the years, several packaging styles dominated the industry such as dual inline package (DIP), quad flat package (QFP), ball grid array (BGA) and chip scale package (CSP). The IC package design involves optimizing electrical performance, mechanical strength, heat dissipation, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. Some packages include a heatsink to allow for heat to spread on the PCB. Conventional packaging has limited input/output (I/O) density, slower signal transmission, higher power consumption, and thermal bottlenecks that prevent chips from scaling to meet modern performance demands.

The structure of the IC package includes an external encapsulating case. The plastic casing is the most popular that is made of epoxy molding compound. Its low cost makes it suitable for commercial production with poor thermal conductivity. The ceramic package has good insulation, high air tightness and wide range of operating temperature which makes it suitable for high-reliability production. Metal casing can be used in hermetic sealed applications, but it is bulky and costly.   

YouTube video that summarizes the history of the IC packing technology ->>