Intel's advanced packaging services have been a significant opportunity for the foundry division in recent times, and now it seems customer interest is flowing in.
Intel's Advanced Packaging Has Already Seen "Billions" In Customer Commitments This Year
Advanced packaging has become a commodity for the tech industry, as significant as semiconductors in today's market, given that manufacturers like NVIDIA have resorted to using it to scale performance without entirely relying on Moore's Law. Right now, TSMC entirely sources advanced packaging demand, with customers looking at products like CoWoS-L for their AI architectures. The important point to note here is that the supply from the Taiwan chip giant is severely constrained, far more than semiconductors. This prompts the need for an alternative, and right now, the only entity with an advanced packaging portfolio on par with TSMC is Intel Foundry.
Multiple sources say that Intel has been in ongoing talks with at least two large customers for its advanced packaging services: Google and Amazon, which both make their own custom chips but outsource parts of the fabrication process. These deals would be a boon for beleaguered chipmaker Intel, which is attempting a comeback.
- WIRED
Intel's advanced packaging business has been booming since the start of the year, as CFO David Zinsner earlier noted that customers are ready to commit and willing to "prepay" for capacity, showing confidence in EMIB and other offerings. We also know that commitments have scaled up to "billions of dollars" as well, which is an indication that Intel sees demand that is large-scale and likely consistent as well. The WIRED report suggests that Google and Amazon are the latest customers for Intel's EMIB packaging services, using them for their ASIC projects, which means both TPUs and Trainium chips could likely see EMIB-T integration.
In advanced packaging production, TSMC lacks a diversified production network, with most of its volume currently concentrated in Taiwan. This not only poses a geopolitical risk but also the inability to service upstream customers, given that we know CoWoS production lines are currently locked up by "loyal" customers. For hyperscalers and ASIC designers seeking advanced packaging, Intel is the likely remaining option, but EMIB has also emerged as a rival to CoWoS in terms of technological parity and the power it provides to an AI architecture.
Securing any form of deal with Intel also brings significant PR benefits for fabless manufacturers and hyperscalers, meaning there is little to lose for many customers in entering advanced packaging agreements with Intel Foundry. Based on what Intel has disclosed, the official timeline for customer commitments is H2 2026, which means we could see details surface at the next earnings call, expected on April 23.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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