The chips powering the artificial intelligence boom are getting a lot of attention. Less discussed is a behind-the-scenes technology that industry insiders say makes those chips possible in the first place: advanced packaging.
According to a CNBC-TV18 explainer, as AI pushes semiconductor performance to new limits, chipmakers are increasingly turning to advanced packaging to overcome challenges that traditional chip design alone can no longer solve. In other words, the old approach of simply shrinking and refining a single chip is running into limits, and how chips are assembled and connected is becoming just as important as the chips themselves.
The stakes are put bluntly by an industry leader. Speaking on the "Voices From The Valley" series shared on LinkedIn, Audrey Charles — SVP of Advanced Packaging and President of Lam Capital — said, "Without advanced packaging, there is no AI." It is a striking claim from someone whose role sits squarely in this corner of the semiconductor world, and it frames packaging not as a minor engineering detail but as a foundation for the entire AI era.
Both sources point in the same direction: the conversation about AI hardware is broadening beyond the marquee chips to the techniques that knit them together and let them perform.
Why it matters: if advanced packaging is truly a prerequisite for modern AI, then a technology most people have never heard of may quietly shape how fast — and how far — the AI boom can go.