Intel's New Engine for AI: A First Look at the Giant EMIB Glass Substrate

At the NEPCON Japan 2026 exhibition, Intel officially unveiled a groundbreaking prototype that could redefine the future of AI hardware: a massive 78mm x 77mm glass core substrate integrated with its Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB) technology. This development signals a major shift in chip packaging, moving towards larger, more powerful, and more complex designs required for next-generation artificial intelligence.

For context, EMIB serves as a high-speed expressway embedded within the substrate. It is specifically designed to connect adjacent chiplets, enabling data to transfer between them as if they were part of a single, monolithic chip.


Perhaps the most significant announcement from Intel is its claim of achieving "No SeWaRe." This industry term refers to the micro-cracks that can easily form in glass substrates during cutting and handling. These invisible flaws are a major reliability concern, often causing the entire package to shatter during thermal cycling tests. Intel's declaration implies that through advanced material modifications or proprietary processing techniques, it has solved the inherent brittleness problem of glass, ensuring a level of reliability suitable for mass production.

 

Why AI Chips Must Switch from Plastic to Glass?

As AI chips continue to grow in size, pushing the very limits of lithography (the Reticle Limit), traditional organic substrates are hitting a hard physical wall. Organic materials are prone to warping due to thermal expansion and contraction at high temperatures, which can lead to poor connections between the chip and the substrate. Glass, in contrast, offers a solution with a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) very similar to silicon, ensuring exceptional dimensional stability under heat.

Furthermore, the ultra-smooth surface of glass allows for much finer circuit patterns to be etched compared to organic substrates. This makes it the ideal foundation for supporting the immense computational power and intricate wiring of next-generation AI accelerators.

In terms of specifications, Intel's prototype features a colossal 78mm x 77mm package, an area twice the size of a standard reticle. Vertically, it employs a sophisticated "10-2-10" stacking architecture. This consists of a thick 800μm (0.8mm) glass core with 10 redistribution layers (RDLs) stacked above and 10 below, creating a total of 20 circuit layers to handle complex AI signal transmission. The thick core design is crucial for ensuring the mechanical rigidity of such a large package, preventing fractures in high-pressure data center environments. This advanced design also achieves an ultra-fine 45μm bump pitch, delivering a far greater I/O density than conventional substrates.

 

Perhaps the most significant announcement from Intel is its claim of achieving "No SeWaRe." This industry term refers to the micro-cracks that can easily form in glass substrates during cutting and handling. These invisible flaws are a major reliability concern, often causing the entire package to shatter during thermal cycling tests. Intel's declaration implies that through advanced material modifications or proprietary processing techniques, it has solved the inherent brittleness problem of glass, ensuring a level of reliability suitable for mass production.

 

Perhaps the most significant announcement from Intel is its claim of achieving "No SeWaRe." This industry term refers to the micro-cracks that can easily form in glass substrates during cutting and handling. These invisible flaws are a major reliability concern, often causing the entire package to shatter during thermal cycling tests. Intel's declaration implies that through advanced material modifications or proprietary processing techniques, it has solved the inherent brittleness problem of glass, ensuring a level of reliability suitable for mass production.

 

Intel successfully integrated two EMIB bridges into this package, validating the glass substrate's ability to support complex multi-chiplet configurations. Compared to its organic counterparts, the glass substrate provides finer interconnect pitches, superior depth of focus control during manufacturing, and lower mechanical stress on the entire assembly.

Perhaps the most significant announcement from Intel is its claim of achieving "No SeWaRe." This industry term refers to the micro-cracks that can easily form in glass substrates during cutting and handling. These invisible flaws are a major reliability concern, often causing the entire package to shatter during thermal cycling tests. Intel's declaration implies that through advanced material modifications or proprietary processing techniques, it has solved the inherent brittleness problem of glass, ensuring a level of reliability suitable for mass production.

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