Apple expected to use TSMC's 2nm process, SoIC-X packaging tech in 2H 2025

Apple is expected to use TSMC's new 2nm process and SoIC-X (System on Integrated Chip) advanced packaging technology in the second half of 2025, according to new reports.

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AMD was the first to adopt SoIC advanced packaging for its Instinct MI300 AI accelerators and high-end gaming GPUs, with SoIC-X yields hitting up to 90% up from 50% previously, according to UDN. SoIC advanced packaging the most complex of TSMC's top advanced packaging technologies, including CoWoS (Chip on Wafer on Substrate).

According to sources of UDN, TSMC's competitiveness is "better than that of its peers" and its advanced processes have a high market share. TSMC proposed SoIC advanced packaging back in 2018, with mass production starting in 2022, and at the beginning, yields were just at 50%, but now the yield rate of SoIC-X used in AMD products has "now reached more" than 90%, according to UDN.

• Read more: NVIDIA, AMD reserve all of TSMC's CoWoS, SoIC advanced packaging for 2024, 2025
• Read more: Apple executives 'secretly visit' TSMC to secure first batch of 2nm production capacity
• Read more: TSMC shows off 2nm chips to Apple, mass production expected in 2025 for the iPhone 17 Pro
• Read more: TSMC says its next-gen 2nm mass production begins in 2025
• Read more: TSMC to expand advanced packaging capacity at 3 plants: CoWoS, SoIC, SoW for AI GPU demand

TSMC's advanced packaging technologies include 2.5D CoWoS and 2.5D/3DInFO, with the most complex of them all being the 3D-stacked integrated chip system technology known as 3D-SoIC, which is a front-end 3D package. TSMC will reportedly rapidly develop its SoIC-X advanced packaging technology, where by 2027 the Taiwanese semiconductor giant will have wafers connected using 3μm bonding pitch through silicon via (TSV) which is 3x the density of the current 9μm pitch size.