According to Techcet's latest Key Report on Front-End Metal Materials and Advanced Packaging Chemicals, the global semiconductor plating chemicals market is expected to grow by nearly 10% by 2025, with revenue expected to reach $1.19 billion. This growth was driven by the widespread use of advanced packaging technologies such as copper pillars, micro-bumps (uBumps), rewiring layers (RDLs), and through-silicon vias (TSVs), as well as the increased demand for fine interconnect structures as advanced logic and memory chips evolve at the process node.
Electroplating chemicals play a key role in semiconductor manufacturing, mainly used in conductive circuit formation, metal interconnects, packaging processes, and special structure preparations, and their accuracy and reliability directly affect chip performance and yield. In semiconductor packaging, electroplating is used to prepare bumps and fan-out interconnect structures to make the electrical connection between the chip and the substrate.
Bumping
Application scenario: In Flip Chip technology, the chip is vertically interconnected with the substrate through bumps.
Fan-Out Packaging
Application scenario: Integrate multiple chips on an organic substrate and expand the pin spacing through electroplating.
TSV (through-silicon via) plating
Application scenario: In 3D integration technology, chip stacking interconnection is realized through silicon wafer vias.
MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) devices
Application scenario: Manufacture micron-level structures such as accelerometers and gyroscopes, which require electroplating of nickel (Ni), gold (Au) or copper as structural materials or electrodes.
image: TECHCET forecasts a positive outlook for metal chemicals
Looking back on 2024, the global electroplating chemicals market revenue will reach $1.08 billion, an increase of 4.4% from 2023. Of this, copper plating chemicals for intra-chip interconnects contributed $655 million, while products used in advanced packaging generated $429 million in revenue, of which copper plating accounted for $83 million. While the market is still facing supply chain adjustments and inventory digestion in 2024, demand in key areas such as logic chips, DRAM, and NAND remains resilient.
Looking ahead, the continued expansion of wafer capacity and the penetration of advanced process nodes will further drive the demand for materials for complex interconnect structures. At present, buried power rail and backside copper wiring are gradually being implemented in applications such as AI and high-performance computing (HPC), becoming a new hot spot in the industry.
On the supply side, manufacturers such as MacDermid continue to expand their market share in the advanced packaging field with differentiated additive technologies by working closely with wafer fabs and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for electroplating equipment. At the same time, China's local market is also quietly changing, and companies such as Sinyang are gradually emerging in the packaging and testing foundry (OSAT). In addition, the CHIPS Act is promoting the construction of domestic production capacity in the United States, helping to localize key materials and processes. However, geopolitical risks and tariff uncertainty may also drive up costs, further accelerating the regional layout and customization of the materials supply chain.
Overall, the semiconductor plating chemicals market is expected to maintain a compound annual growth rate of 7.1% in the next five years, becoming an important part of supporting the continuous evolution of advanced processes and packaging technologies.
