Sam Sun, Chairman of BIWIN Storage, voiced that the evolving storage industry has brought a bright spot and prominent attention to the testing and packaging sector. This is particularly true as advanced packaging moves towards miniaturization and integration, and technical barriers are progressively becoming higher. The company is deepening its research and development efforts in the integrated packaging and testing layout to enhance its competitive edge. It is anticipated that the Integrated R&D and Packaging 2.0 Strategy will transform the company from a storage product supplier into a comprehensive partner offering wafer-level advanced packaging and testing services. This will provide industry partners with higher-quality in-depth solutions and promote a comprehensive enhancement of customer value.
Rui Ding, General Manager, Product Department, Consumer Cloud Platform Business Group at iFLYTEK, declared that the development of large models has transitioned AI from a "tool" to an "assistant", capable of performing a wider range of tasks through more natural conversational forms. In the future, iFLYTEK hopes to collaborate with various industry stakeholders to promote the development of AI technology.
Chloe Ma, VP of China GTM for IoT Line of Business at Arm, claimed that the wave of AI is sweeping across various sectors. Generative AI is not only being deployed in the cloud but is also rapidly making its way to the edge, where storage plays a crucial role in AI computing from the cloud to the edge. In response to the innovative demands of the new era of edge AI, Arm is committed to advancing in three major areas: hardware, software, and ecosystem development.
Feng Chen, Senior Vice President of Rockchip, mentioned that an increasing number of industries and applications are integrating AI with IoT, making AIoT the optimal pathway for the intelligent transformation of traditional sectors and a key direction for the future development of the IoT. The rapid expansion of the AIoT market is creating opportunities for AIoT chips while also driving greater demands for data transmission, storage, and computing, which poses challenges for chip processing power. Rockchip continues to release new chips to support AIoT applications.
Jie Chen, Co-founder and VP of Data Storage Technology at InnoGrit, highlighted that in the AI era, as well as the data age, higher challenges have been presented for storage technologies. Faster and more efficient SSD interfaces will contribute to breaking through storage limitations. The collaborative optimization between InnoGrit's memory controller chips and domestically produced flash memory will enhance the read/write performance and QOS competitiveness of storage products, jointly shaping the future of China's storage industry.
Vic Huang, Vice General Manager of QUANXING Technology, noted that the computing architecture of solutions provided by QUANXING is not constrained by the size of large models, which contributes to a significant reduction in the cost of local deployment. The company is focused on a full range of high-end domestic storage products, aiming to complete the "last mile" of AI and striving to become a leader in the era of AI for everyone.
Zheng Qiu, Technical Marketing Manager at Montage Technology, remarked that the rapid development of AI has generated immense demand for both computing power and storage capacity. The high-speed and stable data transfer between high-performance processors and large-capacity memory is of utmost importance. In response, "transmission chips" surfaced as a timely solution.
Don Hu, Vice President of Marketing at Allwinner Technology, shared insights on the company's industrial layout, technological direction, and industry applications. Mr. Hu introduced Allwinner's exploration in areas such as general-purpose computing power, dedicated computing power, computational expansion, and multi-modal sensing. He also explained how Allwinner gives a full play to the fundamental role played by computing power to provide high-quality chips and services for industries like smart living, smart cities, and smart industries.
Lei Hu, Director of Business Management at Applied Materials (AMAT), conducted an in-depth analysis of the technologies involved in high-bandwidth memory, including DRAM chips, logic controllers, and HBM stacks, as well as the additional material engineering processes. He further added that AMAT is capable of providing clients with cutting-edge packaging equipment to empower the elevation of customer value by taking advantage of its strong R&D capabilities to facilitate the advancement of high-bandwidth memory technology.
Lee Chee Ping, Senior Director of LAM Research, commented that the AI chip market is flourishing with rapid growth, and the enhancement of AI chip performance requires the essential support of advanced packaging. Moreover, advanced packaging and heterogeneous integration are also the primary methods in the semiconductor industry for optimizing performance, power, form factor, and cost.
Youngsuk Kim, Director of DISCO, remarked that from 2023 to 2029, the advanced packaging market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11%, making 2.5D/3D packaging equipment increasingly important. DISCO has extensive experience in mass production and has closely collaborated with customers during the R&D phase, providing solutions for thinning and cutting HBM and 2.5D-PKG. Mr. Kim then introduced the performance and advantages of various equipment, including DFD6860HS, DGP8761HC, DGP8761, DFL7262, DFL7362, and DFD6362/6363.
Focusing on Frontline Technologies to Foster a New and Autonomous Ecosystem
The summit also established a dedicated forum, dubbed "Memory Industry Chain Ecosystem Forum", for enterprises across the memory industry chain to further decode memory future trends. An array of leading companies, including Skyverse, Loongson, Like Automation Equipment, Micro-Nano (HongKong), OKN Technology, Maxwell, Attach Point Intelligent Equipment, Tytantest, Maxio, Silergy and Heyan Technology, had gathered to share their insights. Discussions focused on cutting-edge trends, industry pain points, and solutions related to wafer testing, memory packaging, aging testing, product and technology innovation, terminal applications, yield improvement, and cost reduction.
Song Zhang, Executive Vice President of Skyverse, observed that it has become the industry trend to identify defects by machines through AI decision-making, aimed at helping customers to locate defects more effectively and further enhance production yield and efficiency. In practical applications, it can be noted that system inspection has demonstrated better results in efficiency and accuracy than manual inspection, which aids to significantly improve production efficiency for the clients. Skyverse will remain dedicated to driving innovation in AI products to provide high-quality solutions for domestic customers in the future.
Shan Jiang, General Manager of Guangdong Loongson Electronic Technology, affirmed that Loongson has gained more innovative space for the industry and market through self-reliance and independence. Autonomy has granted Loongson greater freedom, enhanced cost-effectiveness, and a more secure supply chain. Committed to becoming both a contributor and a maintainer of the international upstream community, Loongson aims to achieve independence and compatibility on the global stage at the same time, rather than decoupling or breaking the chain.
Simon Ye, General Manager of Like Automation Equipment, expressed that the company's next-generation innovative technology of 2.5D/3D large-size packaging bumping is currently being validated through product development with domestic clients.
Steve Pei, CEO of Micro-Nano (Hong Kong) Technology, mentioned that as a professional manufacturer of wafer thickness measurement systems, Micro-Nano now mainly provides the SemDex M1 semi-automatic system and the SemDex A fully automatic system, with over 1,000 units installed globally, placing the company at the forefront of the industry.
Ming Zhao, General Manager of OKN Technology, observed that the company has initiated the R&D for PCIe GEN6 based on the GEN5 SSD testing system. With intense competition in the industry, OKN sees this as an opportunity to enhance its internal drive, strengthen its R&D capabilities, and foster product innovation, continuously providing better solutions for its customers.
Kuilin Jin, Vice General Manager of Sales at Maxwell Technologies, pointed out that independent R&D is crucial. Through technological innovation, Maxwell aims to achieve the import substitution of key core components, break the foreign technology monopoly and ensure supply chain security.
Xiaolong Ouyang, R&D VP at Attach Point Intelligent Equipment (APIE), shared his insights that APIE's one-stop solution has achieved AI Inside applications, supporting the packaging of mature storage chips required for AI, as well as advanced packaging solutions for AI storage chips, including HBM, 2.5D, TCB, and HB.
