MediaTek says panel-level packaging can cut costs 30%

TAIPEI (TVBS News) — MediaTek (聯發科) said Monday (Aug. 31) that panel-level fan-out packaging could cut chip packaging costs by about 30%. The Taiwanese chipmaker made the announcement as artificial intelligence drives demand for larger processors that exceed conventional wafer-level manufacturing limits.

MediaTek Senior Director Jonas Hsu (徐潤忠) spoke at the Panel-Level Fan-Out Packaging Innovation Forum (面板級扇出型封裝創新論壇) at SEMICON Taiwan. He compared the shift to replacing a round pizza with a rectangular one. The larger format allows manufacturers to fit more chips per run while reducing wasted edge space, Hsu said.

Traditional 12-inch wafers leave significant unused space around the edges when accommodating large rectangular chips. Rectangular panels measuring 510×515 mm or 600×600 mm offer at least 3.7 times the usable area of a 12-inch wafer. The approach could increase output per production run by about 78%, Hsu said.

Advanced AI chip packaging now reaches 3.5 to four times the standard reticle size, reducing wafer utilization, MediaTek said. Tight capacity for TSMC's Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging and high expansion costs have increased industry interest in panel-level manufacturing. MediaTek said potential packaging cost reductions could reach around 30%.

The larger format creates new technical challenges, Hsu said. Rectangular panels are more vulnerable to stress at the corners, while warpage during thermal processing and overlay errors can affect yield and reliability. New product introduction cycles for large-format packaging can take eight to nine months, making process control throughout manufacturing increasingly important.

MediaTek has worked on panel-level fan-out packaging for more than seven years, Hsu said. The company's first product took three years to reach mass production. Annual output is now approaching the equivalent of 1 million 8-inch wafers, with yields comparable to wafer-level packaging.

Panel-level packaging is not intended to fully replace wafer-level packaging, Hsu stressed. Manufacturers should choose the most suitable platform based on product design and manufacturability. ◼