The bottleneck shifts to packaging
Advanced packaging, historically regarded as an ancillary step in semiconductor manufacturing, has according to the source become a critical point for producing the highest-performance processors. This is borne out by the observation the article attributes to Pat Gelsinger, former Intel CEO and now a partner at venture capital firm Playground Global, according to whom packaging was not a cause for concern in the past.
CoWoS technology, proprietary to TSMC, the world's largest contract semiconductor manufacturer, makes it possible to connect compute chips and separate memory devices on a common substrate, achieving high-bandwidth communications. The source indicates that use of this solution is widespread among NVIDIA, AMD, Broadcom and major cloud operators that develop AI processors in-house.
The SPIL transaction and the market figures
According to an industry executive cited in the article, NVIDIA is reportedly providing financial support on the order of billions of dollars to help SPIL, a testing and packaging company controlled by ASE Technology, increase CoWoS production capacity. The money would be intended to expand new cleanroom facilities and purchase machinery.
The news is presented as a previously undisclosed financing arrangement. NVIDIA reportedly did not respond to a request for comment, while ASE said it would not comment on market rumors concerning its customers. The picture is completed by a Yole Group forecast, according to which the advanced packaging market will surpass the traditional packaging market for the first time in 2026, with capital investments approaching $28 billion.
What is established and what is missing
There are three solid facts: TSMC's CoWoS capacity is described as saturated; an anonymous executive reports NVIDIA's financial commitment to SPIL; and the two companies neither confirm nor deny it. The exact amount, timing, structure of any agreement and the actual destination of the funds therefore remain to be verified.
The significance of the transaction, if confirmed, would lie in a chipmaker's decision to directly support a third-party supplier in order to circumvent the production bottleneck. The article does not clarify whether the support takes the form of advance payments, loans or equity stakes, nor whether other TSMC customers are adopting similar strategies.
