On July 11, news emerged that the artificial intelligence boom is driving chip manufacturers to accelerate the design of stacked chips, akin to high-tech Lego blocks.
Industry executives claim that this so-called Chiplet technology allows for easier design of more powerful chips and is considered one of the most significant breakthroughs in integrated circuits in over 60 years.
Darío Gil, IBM’s research director, stated in an interview: “Packaging and Chiplet technology are crucial components of the future of semiconductors. This technology is more powerful compared to designing a large chip from scratch.”
Last year, tech giants such as AMD, Intel, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) formed an alliance aimed at establishing Chiplet design standards. NVIDIA, the world’s first chip company to exceed a market value of one trillion dollars, subsequently joined the alliance. IBM and several Chinese companies are also members.
Apple launched the high-end Mac Studio computer last year and updated it in June this year, making it one of the first consumer products to adopt Chiplet technology to connect two processing units, with these chips produced by TSMC. In recent months, both Intel and NVIDIA have announced the launch of custom products based on Chiplet technology.
Typical consumer devices like smartphones contain various types of chips for data processing, graphics processing, memory, communication, and power control functions. These chips are intricately connected through tiny lines and are packaged in protective plastic casings, forming packages that can be mounted on circuit boards.
With the new Chiplet packaging technology, engineers have found a way to combine existing chips together, as simply as building a toy car with a few Lego blocks.
An industry insider compared chip designers to recipe creators, with Chiplets likened to pre-prepared ingredients. He stated that chip design companies can mix the components they want, “and then simply cook the dish and serve it immediately.”
This concept is particularly appealing to AI companies eager to design chips optimized for AI computation.
NVIDIA stated that its Chiplet technology can connect its existing products (such as graphics processing chips) with custom chips designed for companies with specific needs.
NVIDIA reported last year that as it becomes increasingly difficult to package more transistors in a confined space, chip stacking “will become the primary mechanism for continuing to enhance chip performance in a cost-effective and low-power manner.”
The world’s largest chip foundry, TSMC, provides a platform for customers like Apple to design Chiplet-based products. The company expects that by 2025, the area of its advanced packaging production facilities will be twice that of 2021.
Major companies are still working to reduce the production costs of Chiplets and continue to research the most effective ways to piece Chiplets together. Additionally, verifying Chiplet performance requires different processes and is not suitable for all functions. Industry insiders indicate that Chiplet design is very suitable for high-end Apple desktop computers priced over $4000, but not for the main chips of current mass-market smartphones.
However, as the costs of designing and manufacturing advanced chips soar, it makes sense to use Chiplet technology to combine several less advanced chips to enhance performance, if possible.
David Kanter, founder of semiconductor analysis firm Real World Insights, stated: “Advanced packaging technology is more expensive… but as new chips become more costly, advanced packaging technology becomes more attractive.”
Source | NetEase Technology Channel
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