Lam Research has opened a research lab in Salzburg, Austria, to advance a chip packaging technology that promises to increase chip density and cut costs, as the company looks to capitalize on surging AI demand for processors.
The US chipmaking tools supplier said on Wednesday that the Salzburg facility will focus on panel-level packaging, which replaces the semiconductor industry's traditional circular silicon wafers with square panels.
Round wafers waste material at the curved edges where full chips cannot be cut. Square panels can eliminate the dead space, allowing chipmakers to produce more chips per surface at a lower cost per unit - a crucial advantage as AI drives chip shortages.
The growing need for more complex and powerful chips has fueled a surge in demand for wafer fabrication equipment, which are sophisticated and expensive tools provided by companies including Lam, Applied Materials, Dutch firm ASML and KLA Corp.
Lam's customers include Samsung Electronics and the world's leading contract chip manufacturer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
The company said the new R&D site builds on the expertise of Semsysco GmbH, a Salzburg chip equipment firm founded in 2012 and acquired by Lam Research in 2022.
The Salzburg facility is Lam's first panel-focused wet-processing lab, which uses liquid chemicals to clean and prepare semiconductor materials, the company said.
"This new campus, a state-of-the-art laboratory for panel-level processing, seamlessly bridges the gap from research and development to production," Salzburg Governor Karoline Edtstadler said in a statement.
