UMC secured a significant contract from Qualcomm to provide advanced packaging solutions for high-performance computing chips, marking the company’s entry into a market segment previously dominated by TSMC.
The Taiwan-based chipmaker will handle packaging for Qualcomm’s chips designed for AI PCs, automotive applications, and AI servers. Industry sources say Qualcomm plans to use TSMC’s advanced process nodes to manufacture its semi-custom Oryon architecture cores, while UMC will handle the advanced packaging using its WoW Hybrid bonding technology.
The packaging solution combines wafer-on-wafer stacking with Package-on-Package technology, replacing traditional solder ball connections. This approach allows for shorter signal transmission distances between chips, boosting computing performance without requiring more advanced manufacturing nodes.
UMC’s expertise in interposer production and through-silicon via (TSV) technology, which it has used in AMD GPU orders for over a decade, positioned it well for this contract. The company is building an advanced packaging ecosystem with subsidiaries Silicon Integrated Systems, Global Unichip, and memory partner Winbond.
Production is expected to begin in the second half of 2025, with volume shipments starting in 2026.
