Intel Bets on Glass Substrates: $3.3 Billion Factory in India with Annual Capacity of 70,000 Units
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Intel is accelerating its strategic layout of glass substrates, making India an important production base.
According to TrendForce on Monday, the Indian government announced that Intel and 3DGS plan to invest about $3.3 billion in the eastern Indian state of Odisha to build a substrate manufacturing plant.
The project is located in the Bhubaneswar-Khurda area, with a construction period expected to be five to six years, focusing on advanced packaging glass core substrates, high-density interconnect substrates, and related semiconductor technologies.
According to The Next Web citing Indian government data, after the plant is completed, it is expected to produce around 70,000 glass substrates annually, as well as about 50 million assembly units and nearly 13,000 advanced 3D heterogeneous integration modules. This move marks a key step for Intel in the commercialization process of glass substrates and reflects the fierce competition among global tech giants over next-generation packaging materials.
Building a plant in India: Intel and 3DGS cooperate in Odisha
3DGS, founded in 2005, is a US semiconductor technology company. According to STAR Market Daily, the packaging facility backed by Intel officially broke ground in April this year in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha.
This $3.3 billion investment covers two core directions: advanced packaging glass core substrates and high-density interconnect substrates, with a construction period spanning five to six years, demonstrating Intel’s long-term commitment to this technology route. Odisha, as an emerging hub of the Indian semiconductor industry, is gradually attracting leading global enterprises to settle there.
Intel’s glass substrate strategy is not limited to India. Forbes reports that Rio Rancho, New Mexico may become Intel’s first mass production base for glass substrates in the US and may be among the world’s first such facilities. At present, Intel’s glass substrates are only produced on a pilot line in Chandler.
The parallel layout in both locations shows that Intel is trying to simultaneously build R&D and mass production capabilities in the emerging glass substrate track to meet the rapidly growing demand for AI chip packaging in the future.
TSMC, Samsung, and SKC accelerate the commercialization of glass substrates
Intel is not fighting alone. Global tech giants are vying to push glass substrates toward commercialization.
According to Economic Daily News in Taiwan, TSMC has named its panel-level packaging technology “CoPoS” (Chip-on-Panel-on-Substrate), with the core transition being from traditional round wafers to square glass or organic substrates. Mass production may be realized as early as 2028.
On the Korean side, according to Business Post, SKC and its subsidiary Absolics are expected to launch the world’s first batch of commercialized glass substrate production by the end of 2026. The Elec reports that Samsung Electro-Mechanics is operating a glass substrate pilot line at its Sejong plant in South Chungcheong Province, aiming for mass production after 2027.
In addition, according to Commercial Times, Taiwanese manufacturers pointed out that the strong demand for large-capacity storage in AI servers is driving HDD technology toward heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). As HAMR involves high-temperature processes, heat-resistant glass substrates are expected to replace traditional aluminum disks, opening up a new incremental market for glass substrates beyond semiconductor packaging.
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