How TI’s investments in back-end manufacturing are helping build capacity for decades to come

Over the past year, our company has announced significant strategic investments to expand 300-mm wafer fab manufacturing capacity to support the continued growth of semiconductors in electronics for decades to come.

To complement these investments in our front-end semiconductor manufacturing process and extend our global internal manufacturing footprint, our company is expanding our back-end manufacturing operations, or assembly and test sites. Our assembly and test sites – where individual semiconductor products are separated from the wafer and assembled, packaged and tested – are a key part of our internal manufacturing operations and are undergoing continuous expansion, modernization and automation to support customer demand.

Semiconductor chips begin their existence on thin slices of pure silicon. These slices – called wafers – are the basis to create up to hundreds of thousands of individual dies in our wafer fabs. The wafers then are shipped to our assembly and test sites around the world, where they’re cut into the tiny semiconductor chips found in every type of electronic system – from electric vehicles to industrial robots, solar panels and satellites.

During this critical step in the manufacturing process, the dies are tailored to meet specific packaging, material and design requirements. Once assembled, they’re again tested rigorously to ensure they meet quality and relevant industry standards.

“The investments we’re making to expand our internal manufacturing operations, combined with our company’s in-house R&D expertise across packaging, product design and technology development, enable TI to innovate and scale across our product portfolio. This unique mix of expertise gives our customers the ability to differentiate their products through the thousands of products, packaging and configuration options TI has available,” said Mohammad Yunus, senior vice president, Manufacturing Operations.

Renderings of new TI Kuala Lumpur assembly/test facility, TIM2, and the new TI Melaka assembly/test facility, TIEM2.

Expanding our assembly and test footprint 

Our company announced that we are expanding our footprint in Kuala Lumpur and Melaka, Malaysia, with two new assembly and test facilities. Together, these new investments support TI’s plan to grow our internal assembly and test operations to more than 90% by 2030 for greater control of supply.

These new state-of-the art factories will feature advanced factory automation to assemble and test hundreds of millions of analog and embedded processing chips daily at full production that will go into electronics everywhere. Production from both sites is expected to begin as early as 2025.

“These investments are part of TI’s long-term strategy to expand our internal manufacturing capacity to support the increasing need for semiconductors and provide greater assurance of supply,” said Yogannaidu Sivanchalam, vice president, Assembly and Test Manufacturing Operations at TI. “TI is proud to have been operating in Malaysia for more than 50 years and our decision to expand our back-end manufacturing is a reflection of the talented and growing team in Malaysia that will be critical to TI’s future.”

Providing greater assurance of supply 

Our company manufactures tens of billions of analog and embedded processing semiconductors annually, across approximately 80,000 different products, and delivers them to more than 100,000 customers around the globe. We have the ability to source more than 85% of products from multiple sites, giving us the ability to increase flexibility and ensure business continuity and quality.

Owning our manufacturing operations and processes allows us to leverage scale and efficiencies across our organization and deliver the geopolitically dependable capacity our customers need. Our global manufacturing footprint includes 12 wafer fabs, seven assembly and test factories, and multiple bump and probe facilities across 15 worldwide sites.

“Owning our manufacturing processes and facilities is a unique advantage we have as a company,” Yunus said. “Investing in assembly and test operations will help us build the capacity our customers need for the long term.”