IBM and Tokyo Electron Renew Collaboration to Propel AI Semiconductor Technology
IBM and Tokyo Electron (TEL) have announced a new five-year collaboration agreement focused on advancing semiconductor and chiplet technology for generative AI applications. This renewal extends their two-decade partnership in semiconductor research and development.
The collaboration will leverage IBM’s semiconductor process integration expertise and TEL’s leading-edge equipment to explore smaller nodes and chiplet architectures. These efforts aim to meet future AI performance and energy efficiency requirements. Throughout their partnership, significant breakthroughs have already been achieved, including the development of a laser debonding process for 300 mm silicon chip wafers in 3D chip stacking technology.
Research will continue at the Albany NanoTech Complex, which has been selected as America’s first National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC EUV Accelerator). Both companies are active members of the semiconductor research community, making this partnership particularly strategic.
Why This Collaboration Matters
This renewed collaboration highlights IBM’s ongoing commitment to integrating semiconductor research and development with practical applications in AI. By combining their strengths, IBM and TEL will explore innovative solutions to enhance chip performance and energy efficiency for the demanding requirements of future AI applications.
Mukesh Khare, GM of IBM Semiconductors and VP of Hybrid Cloud, stated, ‘The work IBM and TEL have done together over the last 20 years has helped to push semiconductor technology innovation to provide many generations of chip performance and energy efficiency to the semiconductor industry.’
In a similar vein, Toshiki Kawai, Representative Director, President & CEO of Tokyo Electron, remarked, ‘Our collaboration at the Albany NanoTech Complex has been instrumental in driving innovation and we look forward to continuing this journey together.’
This partnership not only reinforces their long-standing collaboration but also serves to maintain innovation leadership in the semiconductor sector as AI technological demands intensify.
