May 7, 2024 /SemiMedia/ -- According to reports, Intel plans to cooperate with 14 Japanese companies to develop technology to automate back-end chip manufacturing processes such as packaging. It will also seek to standardize back-end technology so that manufacturing, inspection and handling equipment can be managed and controlled by a single system.

The collaboration includes electronics maker Omron and Yamaha Motor as well as materials suppliers Resonac and Shin-Etsu Polymer, and will be led by Kunimasa Suzuki, Intel's head of Japan.

The group expects to invest tens of billions of yen, aiming to achieve viable technology by 2028.

As of 2022, 38% of the world's back-end chip production capacity is located in China. It is hoped that back-end automation will help make up for Japan's shortage of chip engineers. In addition to the Intel project, TSMC and Samsung Electronics have or plan to establish back-end production research centers in Japan.