In today's era of rapid technological development, chip packaging technology has become one of the key areas of competition in the semiconductor industry. As a leader in the global chip industry, Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang revealed the shift in demand for advanced packaging technology, which has aroused widespread attention and in-depth thinking.
The key node of technological transformation
NVIDIA is in the midst of a critical transition in packaging technology, moving from traditional CoWoS-S technology to more advanced CoWoS-L technology. The company's top-of-the-line AI chip, Blackwell, represents the forefront of NVIDIA's technology, and has made significant changes in packaging. It is predominantly based on CoWoS-L technology, in contrast to the CoWoS-S technology used in the previous generation of Hopper chips. This transformation did not happen overnight, but was the result of a combination of factors such as technology trends, cost-effectiveness, and product performance optimization.
The strategic adjustment of production capacity layout
NVIDIA is actively adjusting its production capacity layout, and plans to convert part of its CoWoS-S production capacity into CoWoS-L production capacity, aiming to strengthen its production capacity in the field of new technologies. This move does not imply a reduction in overall production capacity, but rather a strategic reallocation of resources, highlighting the centrality of CoWoS-L technology in NVIDIA's future roadmap. Advanced packaging capacity was once a bottleneck that limited the large-scale shipment of Blackwell chips, but it is gratifying to note that in the past two years, the production capacity in this field has increased significantly, reaching about four times that of two years ago, providing strong capacity support for NVIDIA's technological transformation.
In-depth optimization of the product line
From a product line perspective, this technology transformation has a more far-reaching impact. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo pointed out that Nvidia has redefined the production line under the Blackwell architecture plan, which will significantly reduce the demand for CoWoS-S in the coming year. In the 200 and 300 series, the 200 series had a dual-chip design and is primarily manufactured with CoWoS-L; The 300 series feature as a hybrid design of dual chip (CoWoS-L) and single chip (CoWoS-S). In particular, NVIDIA's decision to eliminate the B200A, which originally relied on CoWoS-S, from the 200 series in its product planning, has almost completely changed the landscape of CoWoS-S adoption in the series, further highlighting the dominance of CoWoS-L. Since the first quarter of this year, NVIDIA has focused on the 200 series and reduced the supply of the Hopper series (CoWoS-S), a series of actions that demonstrate the urgent need for CoWoS-L technology and the deep optimization of the product line.
Pictured: Huang says demand for advanced packaging technology is changing（image from internet）
Technical differences and choices
At the technical level, although CoWoS-S and CoWoS-L belong to TSMC's CoWoS packaging technology system, there are significant differences. CoWoS-S uses an all-silicon interposer and excels in high-performance computing and data center applications, but its high cost and stringent requirements for production yield limit its application range to a certain extent. In contrast, CoWoS-L uses local silicon interconnect technology, which is relatively low cost, effectively solves the problem of low yield of large-size silicon interposer, and is especially suitable for products with low priority requirements, providing more flexible technology options for NVIDIA's product layout at different levels.
Synergy and prospect of the industrial chain
In the face of rumors about the reduction of orders, TSMC Chairman Wei Zhejia firmly denied it at the performance meeting, and emphasized the company's close cooperative relationship with customers and unremitting efforts to increase production capacity. In fact, from the perspective of the overall situation of the industry, TSMC's CoWoS packaging technology is still in short supply. Even if a customer moves from CoWoS-S to CoWoS-L, it should not simply be understood as a reduction in orders. On the contrary, the rise of CoWoS-L technology reflects the trend of technology iteration in the industry, and its current production capacity is still difficult to meet the continuous growth of market demand.
NVIDIA's transformation of advanced packaging technology is an important embodiment of its continuous innovation and strategic adjustment in the semiconductor field. This change is not only related to NVIDIA's own product competitiveness and market layout, but also affects the technology trend and capacity allocation of the entire semiconductor industry chain to a certain extent. As CoWoS-L technology gradually dominates, it is expected to give rise to new technological breakthroughs and application scenarios in artificial intelligence chips and related fields in the future, injecting new vitality into the development of the global technology industry. TSMC and other key companies in the industrial chain will continue to promote the innovation and upgrading of packaging technology in the process of meeting the changing technical needs of customers, and jointly shape the new pattern of the semiconductor industry.
