Samsung may produce key components for Nvidia's Blackwell AI accelerators on SAINT packaging tech

South Korean publication The Elec is reporting that Samsung is investing heavily in 2.5D packaging equipment supplied by Japanese company Shinkawa. Industry sources claim that this may help Samsung prepare its production lines for important AI GPU orders from Nvidia.

Earlier this year, DigiTimeswas was citing insider information regarding Samsung’s plans to secure orders for upcoming AI GPUs designed by Nvidia, as Team Green began to find it increasingly challenging to rely on TSMC alone, especially with the unprecedented demand for AI-powered hardware. The Elec is now lending more credence to the possibility that Samsung’s foundries could be tapped by Nvidia to produce key components for the upcoming Blackwell AI accelerators launching next year.

In order to properly prepare for Nvidia’s orders, Samsung has received 7 packaging machines from Shinkawa, with 9 more machines scheduled to be delivered as production ramps up later in 2024. The Shinkawa equipment is crucial for Samsung’s SAINT (Samsung Advanced Interconnection Technology For Next-Gen Chips) technology, which is supposed to provide a viable alternative to TSMC’s CoWoS solution.

According to The Elec, the SAINT technology will not be used to produce the Blackwell GPU chips themselves, as Nvidia is still only trusting TSMC with this task. Instead Samsung’s SAINT will be used for the interposer and HBM3 RAM packaging.

TSMC is supposed to start production for the Blackwell GPU wafers in late December, and this process is expected to take up to four months. The assembly and packaging stage will happen after, so Samsung’s foundries are to begin production in Q2 ‘24.

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