Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) announced on November 28 the launch of its Tongluo facility in Miaoli, central Taiwan, equipped with advanced interposer production and 3D wafer stacking capabilities. This new fab, with a monthly capacity of 40,000 12-inch wafers, positions PSMC to deliver high-margin 3D AI foundry services, enabling global clients to capitalize on the accelerating growth of the AI sector.
Mature-process foundries face market shifts
PSMC Chairman Frank Huang highlighted the need for mature-process wafer foundries to reevaluate their strategies amid intensifying competition from China's expanding mature-process foundry capacity, reflecting a shifting global industry landscape.
As global supply chains undergo reshuffling due to shifting US policies, PSMC has strengthened its marketing efforts for mature-process solutions outside of China. Over the past two years, the company has developed collaborations with US and European clients, achieving steady progress in developing power management ICs (PMIC), NOR flash, and other logic and memory process platforms.
PSMC's PMIC production has reached 1,000 units per month. Rising demand for AI servers is expected to drive substantial growth in the PMIC foundry business by 2025, as new clients enter the AI market.
Tongluo facility spearheads 3D AI innovation
Huang emphasized that PSMC's Tongluo fab has adopted a 3D AI foundry platform leveraging interposer and wafer stacking technologies to address global pricing pressures in the mature-process foundry market. Following client collaborations, the high-capacity interposer has achieved certification and begun small-scale shipments.
PSMC has aligned production schedules between its Tongluo and Hsinchu facilities to achieve a monthly output of several thousand interposers, meeting future market demands. The Tongluo fab has initiated 3D wafer stacking development projects in collaboration with tier-one logic foundries, including AMD.
The Tongluo fab will process several thousand DRAM wafers from PSMC's Hsinchu facility to produce 4-layer wafer-on-wafer (WoW) DRAM modules. These modules, developed through years of refinement, will be supplied to key logic foundry partners for further validation, aligning with new product launch timelines for the second half of 2025.
Huang noted that PSMC's interposer and 3D wafer stacking innovations integrate its existing logic and memory technologies with new production lines at the Tongluo facility. This cost-efficient 3D AI foundry platform not only strengthens PSMC's competitive edge but also represents a strategic shift to navigate the evolving mature-process foundry market.
With interposers and wafer stacking recognized as high-value, customized solutions requiring lower equipment investment than mature-process lines, PSMC has deployed thousands of new capacity units at Tongluo. Future expansions, driven by client demand, will further enable customers to capitalize on emerging AI opportunities.
Huang reported steady progress in PSMC's collaboration with India's Tata Group on the 12-inch wafer fab project. He confirmed that the company's ventures in FAB IP and 3D AI foundry remain on schedule, with tangible results expected by late 2025 and robust growth projected for 2026.
Article translated by Levi Li
