Philoptics has set its sights on the AI chip equipment market with a 2 mm glass drilling capability, Seoul Economic Daily reported.

The South Korean semiconductor equipment maker is positioning the process for advanced packaging — the segment that supplies interposers, substrates and through-substrate vias for AI accelerators and high-bandwidth memory stacks.

What does 2 mm glass drilling involve?

Glass substrates have emerged as a candidate replacement for silicon interposers in advanced 2.5D and 3D packaging. The material offers a lower dielectric constant than silicon, better thermal stability above 200°C, and the ability to scale to panel sizes larger than conventional 300 mm wafers.

Drilling through 2 mm of glass requires process parameters distinct from silicon. Glass fractures under mechanical stress, so laser ablation, stealth dicing or hybrid laser-mechanical approaches dominate the recipe. The 2 mm thickness aligns with panel-level packaging roadmaps published by TSMC, Samsung Foundry and Intel.

In a glass interposer, through-glass vias (TGVs) replace the through-silicon vias (TSVs) used today. TGV pitches below 10 μm are required to match current silicon interposer specifications. The via fill — typically copper or tungsten — must reach aspect ratios above 10:1 to route signals through a 2 mm stack.

Why target the AI chip tool market?

Demand for AI accelerators — including NVIDIA H100, H200 and Blackwell GPUs and AMD MI300X parts — has strained advanced packaging capacity. TSMC's chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) lines remain sold out through 2025, with capacity expansions underway in Tainan, Kaohsiung and Arizona.

Hyperscalers including Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft have added custom AI silicon programs, increasing pressure on substrate supply. Glass interposers could relieve that pressure by enabling larger package areas — reported at 100×100 mm or beyond — and accommodating more chiplets per package than silicon at equivalent cost.

Market scale

The global semiconductor equipment market generated $109 billion in billed revenue in 2024, SEMI reported. Back-end equipment — dicing, grinding, substrate processing, packaging — accounts for roughly 20% of that total.

Glass substrate equipment represents a smaller slice. Industry estimates place the addressable market below $1 billion annually today, with multi-billion-dollar potential if glass interposers replace silicon in mainstream 2.5D packaging after 2027.

Competitive landscape

Philoptics enters a substrate-processing market served by DISCO, Tokyo Seimitsu, Hanmi Semiconductor and several laser processing specialists. The South Korean vendor already supplies laser lift-off, annealing and cutting tools to display and semiconductor manufacturers, including Samsung Display and LG Display.

Glass substrate qualification remains in early stages across the chip industry. Intel announced glass substrate development for advanced packaging in September 2023, targeting volume production later this decade. SK hynix and Samsung Electronics have also committed to glass substrate packaging research. SKC subsidiary Absolics, Corning and AGC have announced glass substrate programs.

What does the report omit?

The Seoul Economic Daily headline does not specify:

• Customer engagements or pilot line deployments
• Equipment pricing or shipment timing
• Which chipmakers Philoptics targets in the AI segment

Seoul Economic Daily did not quote Philoptics executives or provide throughput, laser source or process cost data for the 2 mm glass drilling system. Philoptics has not issued a separate press release on the capability as of publication.