TSMC leads in advanced chip packaging wars, LexisNexis patent data says

[Daniel Nenni]

FILE PHOTO: Illustration shows TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) logo

(Reuters) - Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC has developed the most expansive arsenal of patents surrounding advanced chip packaging, followed by Samsung Electronics and then Intel, according to data from LexisNexis.

Advanced chip packaging is a crucial technology that squeezes the most horsepower from the latest chip designs, and is crucial to chip contract manufacturers vying for business.

The data from LexisNexis, released last month, indicates that TSMC and Samsung have steadily invested in advanced packaging technology for years, as Intel did not keep pace with its own filings.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) has a cache of 2,946 advanced packaging patents and also has the highest quality, a measure that includes how many times they are cited by other companies, according to data and analytics company LexisNexis.

Samsung Electronics, which ranks second in terms of quantity and quality of the patents, has 2,404, according to the LexisNexis data.
Ranked third, Intel has 1,434 patents in its advanced packaging portfolio.

“They seem to be the ones that pulled the field forward, and set the technology standard,” said LexisNexis PatentSight Managing Director Marco Richter in an interview, referring to TSMC, Samsung and Intel.

Intel, Samsung and TSMC have been steadily investing in advanced packaging technology since around 2015, when all three began to add to their patent portfolios, according to the data. The three businesses are the only companies in the world that have or plan to deploy the technology to fabricate the most complex, advanced chips.

Advanced packaging is crucial for improving semiconductor designs as it becomes more difficult to pack more transistors onto a single piece of silicon. Packaging technology enabled the industry to stitch together several chips called "chiplets" - either stacked or adjacent to one another - within the same container.

Advanced Micro Devices' chiplet technology helped its server chips gain an advantage over Intel's.

Samsung has been investing in advanced packaging for years but the South Korean chip giant established a dedicated team to pursue advanced packaging in December 2022, Moonsoo Kang, the unit's chief, said in a statement.

Intel disputed the idea that the size of TSMC's patent portfolio indicated that it had developed more advanced technology. The company's patents protect its intellectual property rights, and its patent investments are carefully selected, Intel's vice president of intellectual property legal group, Benjamin Ostapuk, said in a statement.

TSMC declined to comment.

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[delong.height]

but hardware times says Intel was the top investor in 2.5D and 3D packaging in 2021, with SAMSUNG at the last. https://www.hardwaretimes.com/intel...and-foveros-in-2021-tsmc-came-2nd-with-cowos/

 

[delong.height]

I don't hear much about packaging adoption for Samsung

 

[Daniel Nenni]

I don't hear much about packaging adoption for Samsung

Samsung made an announcement at their foundry day:

For packaging Samsung announced the MDI Alliance in collaboration with partner companies as well as major players in 2.5D and 3D, memory, substrate packaging, and testing. Packaging is now a very important part of the foundry business. With the advent of chiplets and the ability to mix and match die from different processes and foundries, packaging is a new foundry arms race and it is good to see three strong horses competing for our business.

Samsung Foundry on Track for 2nm Production in 2025 - Semiwiki

On the heels of the TSMC Symposium and the Intel Foundry update, Samsung held their Foundry Forum today live in Silicon Valley. As usual it was a well attended event with hundreds of people and dozens of ecosystem partners. The theme was the AI Era which is appropriate. As I have mentioned...

semiwiki.com

Samsung has been packaging their own chips for many many years but packaging other people's chips is a different story. There is a lot of secrets inside packaging that Samsung is not willing to share which is understandable.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

but hardware times says Intel was the top investor in 2.5D and 3D packaging in 2021, with SAMSUNG at the last. https://www.hardwaretimes.com/intel...and-foveros-in-2021-tsmc-came-2nd-with-cowos/

We talked about Intel's packaging here:

Intel Enables the Multi-Die Revolution with Packaging Innovation - Semiwiki

The trend is undeniable. Highly integrated monolithic chips can no longer handle the demands of next-generation systems. The reasons for this significant shift in design are many. Much has been written on the topic; you can get a good overview of the forces at play in multi-die design here...

semiwiki.com

In regards to technology Intel may be the leader. The difference is Intel has been packaging their own chips, like Samsung. TSMC has been partnering with customers on packaging so it is a very different experience. It will be interesting to see who wins here but it is the foundry customers that matter and for the next generation 3nm chips TSMC wins by a landslide.

We also cover TSMC's packaging:

TSMC Redefines Foundry to Enable Next-Generation Products - Semiwiki

For many years, monolithic chips defined semiconductor innovation. New microprocessors defined new markets, as did new graphics processors, and cell-phone chips. Getting to the next node was the goal, and when the foundry shipped a working part victory was declared. As we know, this is changing...

semiwiki.com

TSMC Doubles Down on Semiconductor Packaging! - Semiwiki

Last week TSMC announced the opening of an advanced backend fab for the expansion of the TSMC 3DFabric System Integration Technology. It's a significant announcement as the chip packaging arms race with Intel and Samsung is heating up. Fab 6 is TSMC’s first all-in-one advanced packaging and...

semiwiki.com

TSMC 2023 North America Technology Symposium Overview Part 3 - Semiwiki

TSMC's 3DFabric initiative was a big focus at the symposium, as it should be. I remember when TSMC first went public with CoWos the semiconductor ecosystem, including yours truly, let out a collective sigh wondering why TSMC is venturing into the comparatively low margin world of packaging. Now...

semiwiki.com

 

[blueone]

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) has a cache of 2,946 advanced packaging patents and also has the highest quality, a measure that includes how many times they are cited by other companies, according to data and analytics company LexisNexis.

I think assessing patent quality by citation quantity is weird. I've always measured patent quality by experts in the field scoring the value of each claim, and then how many claims a patent contains with a weighted score. (Some corporate acquisition processes use scoring.) I suspect some companies build up their patent counts by having a small number of claims per patent (sometimes just a couple or even one). But patents with very few claims are also an interesting tool for those patents which you know will be licensed (such as those declared for use by an industry specification).

 

[nghanayem]

but hardware times says Intel was the top investor in 2.5D and 3D packaging in 2021, with SAMSUNG at the last. https://www.hardwaretimes.com/intel...and-foveros-in-2021-tsmc-came-2nd-with-cowos/

I think it is a much more nuanced situation that that. Putting aside the wide repertoire of 2D packaging tech, intel seems to have had at least parity (maybe even leadership in 2.5D) on the back of EMIB. 3D wise they are without a doubt currently behind. TSMC is already shipping hybrid bonded parts (albeit at low volumes), meanwhile intel has not indicated when we would start seeing Foveros direct products.