CoWoS-L’s Lead—and the Korean Suppliers Preparing for What Comes Next

Advanced packaging is becoming a central part of AI-chip design: it must connect computing dies and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) within increasingly large packages. In Jie Ye-eun’s account of the next packaging race, Korean suppliers are preparing for alternatives to TSMC’s CoWoS-L even as that platform remains the market’s established choice. 17

Why AI chips need more advanced packaging

As GPU suppliers and large cloud providers develop more powerful chips, they are seeking larger packages that can accommodate additional components. TrendForce identifies package size as a priority for 2.5D packaging and says growing HBM requirements are pressing against conventional silicon-interposer limits. Packaging is therefore not merely a final assembly step; the connections between dies and memory shape what can fit in an AI accelerator. 76

TSMC’s CoWoS-L addresses that challenge with a redistribution-layer interposer and embedded local silicon bridges, providing dense connections where computing dies and HBM need them. It is one approach to building larger, more complex assemblies without relying solely on a single large silicon interposer. 9

Why TrendForce expects CoWoS-L to stay mainstream

TrendForce forecasts that CoWoS-L will remain the mainstream AI-chip packaging solution through 2028, despite competition from Intel’s EMIB-T. Its stated reasons are technological maturity and manufacturing yield; Ye-eun’s Korea Herald account also points to TSMC’s manufacturing experience, customer base and expanding production capability. This is a forecast about the leading approach, not a claim that every AI chip will use CoWoS-L—or that its lead must end in 2028. 71

That lead has a cost. TrendForce says the larger interposer required by CoWoS-L raises packaging expense, while constraints on TSMC’s capacity increase interest in other approaches. Reporting on the supply backlog likewise describes chip designers and technology companies considering Intel packaging alternatives. 72

Where Intel’s EMIB-T fits

Intel’s embedded multi-die interconnect bridge, or EMIB, offers a different way to link chips. TrendForce’s analysis says reducing reliance on an expensive large interposer could lower costs, although performance depends in part on substrate wiring density. Its more advanced EMIB-T approach adds through-silicon vias to shorten signal paths. Those potential advantages help explain interest in an alternative; they do not establish that EMIB-T has displaced CoWoS-L in yield or adoption. 67

The distinction matters: a capacity-constrained market can make room for competing architectures while its incumbent remains mainstream. That is consistent with TrendForce’s forecast through 2028. 7

What Samsung Electro-Mechanics and LG Innotek are preparing

Ye-eun’s report frames Samsung Electro-Mechanics and LG Innotek as Korean suppliers positioning themselves for the next packaging race, rather than as companies that have already replaced TSMC’s platform. 1 Separately, reporting on Samsung Electro-Mechanics describes its displayed 2.1D and 2.5D substrates, high-density chip connections and glass-substrate technology. It also describes work to reduce warpage in larger substrates while implementing fine circuits, vias and bumps. Its 2.1D design connects chips without a silicon interposer. 17

Those demonstrations show why substrate engineering matters as packages grow, but the cited material does not establish a customer-by-customer roadmap for either Korean company. In particular, it does not substantiate a specific LG Innotek FC-BGA program or an EMIB-related supply commitment. The supported conclusion is narrower and more useful: suppliers are preparing for multiple possible packaging designs while CoWoS-L remains the mainstream solution in TrendForce’s forecast. 1717

The journalist behind the account

Jie Ye-eun’s Korea Herald bylines document coverage of Samsung corporate leadership and semiconductor strategy, including stories on Samsung C&T, Samsung Electronics’ finance leadership and its foundry business. The Herald also maintains a reporter page under her name. 51566144 The available material does not establish a complete career chronology beginning in 2018 or independently verify every company and regulatory beat attributed to her; those details should not be treated as a confirmed biography.