Advanced Packaging – A must for the next-gen AI and HPC Hardware and not only

The article Advanced Packaging: A Must for Next-Gen AI and HPC Hardware highlights the importance of advanced packaging (AP) technologies in supporting the growth and performance of AI, high-performance computing (HPC), and other data-intensive industries. As semiconductor technologies approach their physical limits, AP is becoming a crucial enabler for scaling up system capabilities and improving performance, bandwidth, energy efficiency, and power delivery.

Key points from the article include:

1. Growth in AI and HPC: The demand for AI models like OpenAI’s GPT-4, which require immense computational power, has pushed semiconductor systems to their limits. AI workloads, especially large language models (LLMs), are memory-bound and struggle with the "memory wall" bottleneck, which limits performance due to inadequate off-chip memory bandwidth. Advanced packaging plays a crucial role in overcoming these challenges by improving interconnects and bandwidth.

2. Chiplet-Based Architectures: The article emphasizes the rise of chiplets, which allow for smaller, modular chips to be integrated into a single package. This approach reduces costs, improves yields, and offers greater design flexibility. Chiplets enable the use of different process nodes for different components (e.g., CPUs, GPUs, memory), leading to heterogeneous integration. This approach is seen in products like AMD’s EPYC CPUs and Intel's Ponte Vecchio GPUs.

3. Advanced Packaging Platforms: Various packaging technologies are covered, including 2.5D and 3D packaging, Fan-Out Wafer-Level Packaging (FO-WLP), and hybrid bonding. These packaging solutions enable high-density interconnects and more efficient power delivery. 2.5D/3D packages, especially with silicon interposers, are widely used for AI and HPC hardware due to their ability to handle large amounts of memory and logic in a compact form. Hybrid bonding, in particular, allows for fine-pitch connections that enhance signal integrity and reduce power loss.

4. Thermal and Power Delivery Challenges: As more chips are integrated into packages and power consumption rises (up to 1000W per GPU), advanced packaging solutions must address thermal management and power delivery. The article discusses vertical power delivery networks (PDN) that reduce power loss by minimizing current path lengths, and the challenges in managing heat dissipation in stacked chip designs.

5. Standardization and Industry Collaboration: The article mentions efforts to standardize chiplet interconnects, such as UCIe (Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express), which allows for interoperability between chiplets from different vendors. Standardization is key to enabling a vibrant ecosystem for chiplets, providing flexibility in design and allowing for easy integration of third-party accelerators into existing systems.

6. Future Trends and Outlook: The next decade is expected to see the realization of highly integrated systems that offer performance improvements beyond what is possible with traditional monolithic designs. Emerging technologies such as co-packaged optics (CPO) will further enhance data transfer speeds and power efficiency, making them critical for AI and HPC applications. Additionally, glass core substrates and new interconnect technologies will enable larger, more powerful systems while mitigating issues like warpage and signal loss.

In conclusion, advanced packaging technologies are pivotal in enabling the continued growth of AI, HPC, and related fields, with innovations in chiplet integration, power delivery, and interconnects leading the way. These technologies are poised to drive the next generation of computing systems capable of handling the increasing demands of AI workloads .