- AI is redefining semiconductor scaling
- Audrey Charles discusses the technologies, partnerships, and innovations that will define the future of semiconductor scaling
AI is driving unprecedented demand for compute power, pushing the semiconductor industry beyond traditional scaling methods. According to Audrey Charles, senior vice president of Corporate Strategy and Advanced Packaging at Lam Research, advanced packaging is a critical innovation frontier.
In a wide-ranging interview on “Voices From the Valley,” she emphasized a defining reality: “Without advanced packaging, there is no AI.”
What Is Advanced Packaging?
Packaging is how semiconductor chips are connected to each other, increasingly to enable high performance in a small footprint. Advanced packaging describes the many novel ways chips are built and connected to fit smaller footprints, integrating processors, memory, and other components into unified systems that improve performance, efficiency, and scalability.
- Advanced packaging enables higher bandwidth, lower latency, and better energy efficiency—capabilities essential for modern AI workloads that depend on massive data movement and real-time processing.
Advanced Packaging Enables AI Performance
AI systems depend on how effectively components work together. Advanced packaging allows multiple chiplets to function as one system, reducing bottlenecks, increasing memory bandwidth, and improving power efficiency. This is key to scaling AI without unsustainable energy demands.
The Shift to Panel-Based Packaging
The industry is moving from wafer-based to panel-based packaging to support increasingly complex AI architectures.
Panel-based approaches offer larger formats, improved scalability, and potential cost efficiencies, making them well suited for next-generation AI systems.
As Charles noted when speaking about Lam’s Salzburg Panel Center of Excellence, “Panel-level packaging is what enables the next generation of large, complex, AI-driven advanced packages to be manufactured efficiently at scale. Leadership at this inflection point comes down to who builds capability—with velocity—before the bottlenecks arrive.”
The Future of Advanced Packaging and AI
Progress in advanced packaging depends on coordination across the semiconductor ecosystem—spanning manufacturers, designers, suppliers, and system architects. This collaboration is essential to bring AI innovations to market at scale. Lam is helping shape how advanced packaging scales to meet market demands.
Charles spoke about advanced packaging, the semiconductor startup ecosystem, the fab of the future, and more in her full interview, which you can watch below or on YouTube:
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