EMIB-T extends EMIB with through-bridge power delivery
Intel has outlined advances in semiconductor packaging at its Rio Rancho, New Mexico facilities, highlighting its EMIB-T design as the latest step beyond the company's existing Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB) technology. EMIB uses small silicon bridges to connect components placed side by side, while Intel's Foveros approach stacks chiplets vertically. EMIB-T adds power-delivery channels through the bridge, which Intel says can improve power efficiency and signal routing in systems that pair processors with high-bandwidth memory, a combination increasingly used in AI accelerators and data-centre processors.
New Mexico capacity targets and Fab 9 milestones
According to Intel, its New Mexico facilities can currently produce multi-chip packages with an area about eight times the standard reticle area, and the company aims to expand that to more than twelve times the standard area by 2028. Fab 9 opened in January 2024 as part of a $3.5 billion investment in the state's operations, and together with the adjacent Fab 11X it became Intel's first high-volume manufacturing site for Foveros-based advanced packaging. The reporting frames the scale-up as part of the industry's shift toward combining specialised processors and memory components within a single package as individual chips become harder and more expensive to enlarge.
CHIPS Act funding underpins the packaging push
The Rio Rancho expansion is supported through the US CHIPS and Science Act. The Department of Commerce previously awarded $500 million in direct funding for Intel's New Mexico facilities as part of a broader package backing the company's manufacturing, packaging and research operations across four states. The funding reflects policy efforts to close a recognised gap in the domestic semiconductor supply chain, while also positioning Intel to compete in advanced packaging against rivals such as TSMC, which has reportedly worked on EMIB-like interconnect approaches.
Atom processor IP licensed to startup RosaicLabs
Separately, Intel has granted stealth chip startup RosaicLabs access to parts of its Atom processor technology, potentially including register-transfer level code that would allow the company to develop customised x86-based chips. The arrangement, reported by Digitimes and described as a rare licensing of Intel's x86-related intellectual property to an outside party, would give RosaicLabs a shortcut to designing Atom-derived silicon rather than building an x86 implementation from scratch.
Commercial timing and customer base remain undisclosed
Intel has not announced when EMIB-T will enter commercial production or identified customers using the technology, leaving open questions about the pace of adoption and the role of the Rio Rancho site in serving external foundry clients. The combination of the EMIB-T roadmap and the Atom IP arrangement suggests Intel is simultaneously pursuing internal advanced-packaging scale and external x86 design partnerships, though the company has not detailed how the two efforts are connected or quantified expected revenue contributions from either initiative.
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