Intel Says Its EMIB Interconnect Solution Is Better Than Traditional 2.5D Chips: Cost Savings, Simple To Design & Provides More Flexibility

Intel has compared its EMIB interconnect solution to traditional 2.5D technologies and shown how it fares better in designing advanced packaged chips.

Intel Shows How Its EMIB Technology Helps To Create Better & Scalable Advanced Packaging Solutions Versus Traditional 2.5D Approaches

Intel's EMIB technology has been used in various chips, mostly from Intel itself. They have used the interconnect solution on Ponte Vecchio, Sapphire Rapids, Granite Rapids, Sierra Forest, and the upcoming Clearwater Forest lineups.

See more

Built for chiplet flexibility, EMIB supports high-speed die-to-die signaling with simple I/O and per-link bridge customization—so every connection is optimized for performance.

Learn more: https://t.co/aviRs6rJUI#IntelFoundry #Semiconductors pic.twitter.com/OHFg7SP272

— Intel Foundry (@Intel_Foundry) January 14, 2026

Intel has already showcased how it intends to scale up its advanced packaging capabilities for next-gen chips, either made by themselves or for its foundry customers. The company has highlighted massive packages, all leveraging EMIB and several other in-house packaging technologies. All of these will be advanced chip solutions designed for data centers and house multiple chiplets, all connected using the EMIB interconnect.

2 of 9

The Advanced Packaging technologies from the competition, such as TSMC, are based on 2.5D and 3D packaging. Instead of using a smaller interconnect bridge like EMIB, TSMC's 2.5D packaging employs a silicon interposer between the dies (chiplets) and the package substrate. The interconnection is enabled by a series of wires that run within the silicon, which we know as TSVs or Through Silicon Vias. These wires are used to connect the multiple dies.

2 of 9

According to Intel, the 2.5D packaging technology has certain drawbacks. First of all, you are paying extra for the silicon that is only needed to connect the wire, and the bigger the chip is, the more expensive the packaging solution will get due to increased design complexity and reduced yields due to TSVs.

The tech also imposes a few limitations in terms of the maximum size you can achieve with the 2.5D route. This leads to a lack of flexibility in die combinations where you can mix and match various compute & memory dies together.

2 of 9

With EMIB, the requirement of the silicon between the die and package is removed. These small bridges are embedded within the substrate and can be installed wherever two dies need to be connected. Now this is nothing new since EMIB has been around for a while, but it's a nice recap for the tech itself. EMIB has two major variants, which are detailed below:

EMIB 2.5D

Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge 2.5D.

• Efficient, cost-effective way to connect multiple complex die.
• 2.5D packaging for logic-logic and logic-high bandwidth memory (HBM).
• EMIB-M features MIM capacitors in the bridge. EMIB-T adds TSVs to the bridge.
• Silicon bridge embedded in package substrate for shoreline-to-shoreline connection.
• EMIB-T can ease the enablement of IP integration from other packaging designs.
• Simplified supply chain and assembly process.
• Production proven: In mass production since 2017 with Intel and external silicon.

EMIB 3.5D

Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge 3.5D and Foveros in one package.

• Enables flexible heterogeneous systems with a wide variety of dies.
• Well-suited to applications where there is a need to combine multiple 3D stacks together in one package.
• Intel Data Center GPU Max Series SoC: using EMIB 3.5D to create Intel’s most complex heterogeneous chip ever mass-produced with more than 100 billion transistors, 47 active tiles, 5 process nodes

So, in terms of advantages, Intel's EMIB advanced packaging solution not only gives flexibility in placing dies but also allows scaling in both dimensions, which won't be possible using the 2.5D approach. Three key advantages that Intel has listed for its EMIB technology are:

• Normal Package Yield Ranges
• Cost Saving Opportunities
• Simple to Design

2 of 9

With Intel diving more into its fab business and hoping to get more attention for its future technologies, such as 14A, advanced packaging solutions will matter a lot more. The advancements to its EMIB, such as the "T" variant and Foveros packaging has attracted some major names, and that increases competition within the chip fabrication buisness which has so far been dominated by TSMC. All is riding on 14A to be a major success for Team Blue, and kick-starting a new era of advanced chip production right on US soil.

Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.