Powertech books out capacity to 2030
STRATEGIC GAMBLE: After developing FOPLP for six years, the chip packager has secured a 100 percent utilization rate for the new technology, its chairman said
By Lisa Wang / Staff Reporter, Hsinchu City
Chip packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) yesterday said that its advanced fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP) production line has secured a 100 percent utilization rate through 2030 ahead of its scheduled volume production next year.
Powertech made the remarks during the first public unveiling of its FOPLP production capabilities. The company expressed strong confidence in its long-term order pipeline, saying that robust market traction has mitigated any client acquisition concerns.
“Our capacity has been fully booked by two major customers. Customers are not an issue through 2030,” Powertech chairman Tsai Du-kung (蔡篤恭) told reporters at the company’s plant in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區).
Powertech Technology Inc chairman Tsai Du-kung showcases the company’s fan-out panel level packaging device at its plant in the Hsinchu Science Park yesterday.
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
The chairman said the investment was the largest strategic gamble of his career. Powertech plans to invest a total of NT$70 billion (US$2.2 billion) on ramping the FOPLP facility, which would have an installed capacity gradually increasing to 5,000 510x510mm panels per month in 2028 from 1,000 panels this year.
Powertech said that it is on track to roll out its initial shipments of artificial intelligence (AI) server central processing units from its Hsinchu facility, called P11, next year, using its advanced FOPLP technology.
The company is also building a FOPLP production line in Singapore through a joint venture with Broadcom Inc.
Advanced Micron Devices Inc and Broadcom are the major customers for the panel-level packaging services.
As AI chip sizes continue to expand, cost-effective panel-level packaging has emerged as an optimal solution compared with circular wafer-based packaging technology, Tsai said.
Powertech said its panel-level packaging technology has at least four-fold better throughput than wafer-based packaging technology.
The company is capable of packaging 45 AI chips using its FOPLP technology, surpassing eight to nine chips packaged using wafer-based packaging technology, it said.
The company said with technology advancement, it plans to integrate optic engines with AI accelerators or switches next year.
It said it is scheduled to ship the first optical engines made for a key customer by the end of this year.
With FOPLP volume production set to commence next year, Powertech expects the production line to reach a break-even point, Tsai said.
Heavy equipment depreciation costs significantly erode the company’s profitability by about NT$3 per share a year, he said.
Powertech was the nation’s first chip packager to invest in the development of FOPLP technology in 2016.
The company said it has been utilizing the technology to package power management chips for six years, overcoming most technological barriers.
As the technology becomes more sophisticated, the company is utilizing it in the production of higher-margin AI chips, it said.
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