Absolics Secures $75 Million CHIPS Funding for Glass Substrates

Absolics, an 80.6 percent owned affiliate company of Korea's SKC semiconductor chemicals and materials company, was established in 2021. The company has made a significant investment of $240 million in a 12,000-square-meter facility with the aim of commencing small volume production in the 2nd half of 2024, with plans for scaling up to high volume production by 2026.

The proposed CHIPS investment is set to facilitate the construction of a 120,000 square-foot facility in Covington, Georgia, dedicated to the development of substrates for use in semiconductor advanced packaging. This strategic move is expected to generate 1,000 construction jobs and create 200 positions in manufacturing and research and development, as highlighted by the Department of Commerce.

Glass substrates are poised to play a pivotal role in the widespread adoption of advanced packaging technology. These substrates are utilized to facilitate die-to-die interconnect interposers for multi-die packaging, offering superior flatness, thermal conductivity, and mechanical stability compared to organic insulator substrates. Ultimately, this enables higher chiplet density and smaller form factors, leading to enhanced performance.

The advanced packaging substrates market is predominantly concentrated in Asia. However, with the proposed CHIPS investment, companies based in the United States will benefit from an expanded domestic supply of glass substrates for advanced packaging. Intel, a trailblazer in 3D advanced packaging, has already begun incorporating glass substrates in its research and development efforts sourced from a 510mm by 515mm panel size.

Absolics is set to continue its research and development endeavors in collaboration with Georgia Tech, while also engaging in projects linked to the Department of Defense's 'State-of-the-Art' Heterogeneous Integrated Packaging (SHIP) program focusing on RF technologies.

"With the backing of the proposed CHIPS funding, Absolics is poised to fully commercialize our groundbreaking glass substrate technology for applications in high-performance computing and cutting-edge defense systems," stated Absolics CEO Jun Rok Oh in a press release issued by the Department of Commerce.

The agreement between Absolics and the Department of Commerce is outlined in a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms (PMT). A due diligence process is currently underway, and the final award documents may contain terms that differ from those in the PMT.