Lam Research buys Austrian chiplet tech firm
US semiconductor equipment maker Lam Research has bought Semsysco in Austria to boost its chiplet packaging technology.
Salzburg-based Semsysco develops wet processing semiconductor equipment for leading-edge logic chips and heterogeneous chiplet designs for high-performance computing (HPC)and artificial intelligence (AI). The terms of the purchase from investment group Gruenwald Equity, the majority owner since 2014, were not disclosed.
This adds cleaning and plating capabilities for chiplet-to-chiplet or chiplet-to-substrate heterogeneous integration. This includes support of fan-out panel-level packaging, where chips or chiplets are cut from a large, rectangular substrate sheet several times the size of a traditional silicon wafer. This approach enables chipmakers to significantly increase yield and reduce waste.
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“The strategic acquisition of Semsysco furthers our commitment to help chipmakers address their emerging technology challenges, adding deep capabilities in advanced substrates and packaging processes,” said Tim Archer, president and chief executive officer at Lam Research.
“With innovative offerings and leading-edge research and development in packaging, Lam is well-positioned to support our customers as they scale to future chiplet-based technologies,” he said.
The deal brings a state-of-the-art R&D facility in Austria focused on next-generation substrates and heterogeneous packaging, broadening the company’s strong development capabilities in Europe and adding a sixth lab in Lam’s global network. In addition, it brings to Lam new and expanded relationships with chipmakers and fabless customers.
Intel is a key customer of Lam and driving chiplet integration with plans for a new plant in northern Italy.
“Packaging plays an important role in extending Moore’s Law and enabling future leadership products with higher levels of system in package integration. New substrate-based panel-level approaches are vital to cost-effectively realizing the high-performance chiplet-based solutions needed for the digital world,” said Keyvan Esfarjani, chief global operations officer at Intel.
“We are pleased to expand our deep, long-standing relationship with Lam to include advanced cleaning and plating processes in the new panel form factor.”
www.lamresearch.com; www.symesco.com
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