Jang Deok-hyun, president of Samsung Electro-Mechanics (photo), expressed his intention to expand the business into the glass interposer sector, following the glass substrate business, which is referred to as a 'game changer' in the semiconductor industry. His ambition is to deepen engagement in the artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor ecosystem by expanding into areas not only with semiconductor design companies like AMD and NVIDIA but also with foundries and integrated device manufacturers (IDM).
President Jang Deok-hyun of Samsung Electro-Mechanics met with reporters after the conclusion of the 52nd regular shareholders' meeting on the 19th at the L Tower in Yangjae-dong, Gangnam, Seoul, and noted, "We are developing core-centered glass substrates and glass interposers in cooperation with existing customers such as AI and server companies." He emphasized that "glass interposers, which will replace existing silicon-based interposers, are also one of our target markets."
Glass substrates are a technology that uses glass instead of organic materials like plastic for semiconductor substrates. Theoretically, it has the advantage of reducing the packaging thickness of chips by up to one-fourth. This effectively accelerates semiconductor miniaturization processes by one to two generations. For example, it is similar to realizing 3 nanometers with a 7-nano (nanometer; 1 nm is one billionth of a meter) chip.
Additionally, using glass substrates significantly reduces pattern distortion caused by temperature increases in chips. This means they are much more resistant to heat. Improvements in flatness enhance the depth of extremely fine lithography processes, and ultra-large form factor packaging also becomes possible, increasing yields. Due to these unique properties, glass substrates are expected to become a game changer in the semiconductor industry by increasing interconnect density by ten times.
The interposer mentioned by President Jang refers to silicon substrates that help facilitate consolidation between the semiconductor substrate and the chip. However, when implementing interposers using glass materials, the expense burden can be reduced, and they are recognized as next-generation materials that are strong against heat and shocks, capable of replacing traditional silicon interposers.
President Jang explained, "As chip sizes increase, the substrate grows larger, and silicon interposers also increase in size, leading to higher expenses. Thus, various technologies are being developed to replace this burden from the customer's perspective." He remarked, "We are considering glass interposers as one of those technologies, and since some customers are looking into glass interposers, we are currently co-developing (glass interposers)."
He added, "Samsung Electronics is one of our customers, and we are also in discussions with AI server companies in the United States (for supply)," predicting that the market for glass interposers will officially open around 2027 to 2028.
Meanwhile, regarding Lee Jae-yong’s remarks about 'being a fierce Samsung member' and 'living or dying,' he noted, "Due to increasing uncertainty arising from U.S. tariff policies and U.S.-China conflicts, along with fierce competition, it seems timely to emphasize that 'if you are not fierce, you will die.' I believe this message should be internalized by everyone from new employees to the president."