Intel's EMIB-T Packaging Claims Half the Cost of TSMC's CoWoS

Intel is accelerating its push into the AI semiconductor packaging market with EMIB-T, its next-generation advanced packaging technology, claiming a yield above 90 percent and manufacturing costs roughly 50 percent lower than TSMC's flagship CoWoS, according to Taiwan's Economic Daily News as reported by The Asia Business Daily this week. Industry insiders believe full-scale mass production will be possible from next year.

Different Architecture, Lower Cost

CoWoS relies on a silicon interposer connecting a system-on-chip such as a GPU with surrounding high-bandwidth memory stacks. Intel's EMIB instead embeds a small silicon bridge within the substrate, and EMIB-T adds through-silicon via (TSV) technology, which simplifies the manufacturing process and reduces cost.

Customer Momentum

Taiwan's fabless company MediaTek announced during an earnings call that it plans to develop a variety of ultra-large AI application-specific integrated circuits utilizing both CoWoS and EMIB-T. Global tech companies such as Broadcom and Meta are also reported to be considering adopting EMIB-T.

Supplement, Not Replacement

Industry experts view EMIB-T as more likely to supplement the current supply shortage of TSMC's CoWoS than immediately replace it, with Intel absorbing part of the demand surge as AI semiconductor demand keeps CoWoS capacity tight. Long term, the technology could strengthen Intel's foundry business. The competition is intensifying from all sides: TSMC has begun developing advanced packaging with a structure similar to EMIB, and Samsung Electronics is strengthening its next-generation 2.xD packaging and turnkey strategy.