TSMC has announced its development of next-generation Compact Universal Photonic Engine (COUPE) technology, which will support the "explosive growth" in data transmission associated with the "AI boom."
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) unveiled its newest semiconductor process, advanced packaging, and 3D IC technologies for the next-generation of AI innovations with silicon leadership at TSMC's 2024 North America Technology Symposium.
At the event, TSMC unveiled its new A16 technology, which packs industry-leading nanosheet transistors with an innovative backside power rail solution for production in 2026, with "greatly improved logic density and performance." TSMC also introduced its new System-on-Wafer (TSMC-SoW) technology, which is an innovative solution that delivers "revolutionary performance to the wafer level" in addressing the future AI requirements for hyperscaler datacenterrs.
The next-gen COUPE technology uses SoIC-X chip stacking technology to stack an electrical die on top of a photonic die, which TSMC says will offer the lowest impedance at the die-to-die interface and higher energy efficiency than conventional stacking methods.
TSMC says its has plans to qualify COUPE for small form factor pluggables in 2025, which will be followed by integration into CoWoS packaging as co-packaged optics (CPO) in 2026, bringing optical connections directly into the package.
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TSMC explained in its press release: "TSMC is developing Compact Universal Photonic Engine (COUPE™ ) technology to support the explosive growth in data transmission that comes with the AI boom. COUPE uses SoIC-X chip stacking technology to stack an electrical die on top of a photonic die, offering the lowest impedance at the die-to-die interface and higher energy efficiency than conventional stacking methods. TSMC plans to qualify COUPE for small form factor pluggables in 2025, followed by integration into CoWoS packaging as co-packaged optics (CPO) in 2026, bringing optical connections directly into the package".
TSMC has also teased that it's working on a new technology that would supply power to chips from the backside of the chips themselves, speeding up AI chips and other processors in 2026 and beyond. Intel has a similar technology that will be one of its main advantages over its competitors, and TSMC is gearing up to deliver a competitor with backside power delivery.
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