Cheng Mei Instrument Technology Co (政美應用), an advanced chip packaging inspection tool supplier, yesterday said it delivered its first chip inspection tool for next-generation panel-level packaging (PLP) technology for artificial intelligence (AI) chips this month, eight to 10 months ahead of its rivals.
In addition, the company has made a breakthrough in developing chip-on-panel-on-substrate (CoPoS) inspection and passed a customer’s verification, enabling shipment of the equipment to a local chip testing and packaging service provider earlier this month, it said.
That would allow the company to break into a market long dominated by KLA Corp.
Photo: CNA
The PLP, or CoPoS, technology is widely expected to be a successor to chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) technology, which is currently used in packaging Nvidia Corp’s AI chips. The major technology shift would replace 300mm round wafer carriers with 310mm by 310mm square panel carriers, addressing constraints on usable areas and capacity, the company said.
“The company expects demand for advanced inspection metrology equipment to outpace traditional equipment in the 2026 to 2029 period, given rapidly rising demand for advanced chip packaging technologies such as CoPoS and CoWoS,” Cheng Mei chairman Tony Tsai (蔡政道) told reporters in Taipei yesterday.
“The company is targeting the advanced packaging segment for growth,” Tsai said.
The addressable market of the world’s advanced chip inspection and metrology tools used in advanced chip packaging is expected to soar 71 percent to NT$60 billion (US$1.91 billion) in 2029 from NT$35 billion next year, the company predicted.
Traditional tools are expected to grow 67 percent to NT$20 billion, it said.
Cheng Mei reported a net loss of NT$54.2 million in the first half of this year, compared with a net loss of NT$71.45 million in the same period last year.
The company is optimistic about next year’s business outlook, driven by aggressive CoWoS capacity expansion by its major customer amid booming AI demand, Tsai said.
That would help the company boost its semiconductor-related equipment revenue to make up more than 70 percent of its total revenue next year, compared with about 60 percent this year, it said.
Global CoWoS capacity is expected to expand significantly to 137,000 wafers per month next year from about 80,000 wafers this year, including those by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), chip packagers and testers ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) and Amkor Technology Inc, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said in a report.
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