Intel plans to incorporate glass substrates into its most advanced chips by 2030. According to the manufacturer, glass enables chips with more transistors and faster data transfers.

Today, the substrate of a chip usually consists of PCB-like organic materials. Intel is confident that replacing these materials with glass will lead to faster and more powerful chips. Following the innovation conference, which is now in full swing, the chip manufacturer will present the latest findings from its research.

Why glass? According to Intel, glass offers several advantages when “packaging” the chip. By packaging we mean the technology used to connect all the different components in the chip. Glass is more resistant to high temperatures than the organic materials used today, so there is less risk of pattern distortion during the firing process. This causes the Yields and manufacturers can get more chips off the assembly line.

More is better

That’s just the beginning. Intel believes that the chips that come off the production line will also be better. The flat surface of a glass substrate creates more space for placing transistors on the chips. The more transistors, the more powerful the chip, which is why Intel initially wants to use this new production technology for its most advanced AI chips. Your laptop therefore does not immediately contain a glass chip.

As if that weren’t enough, glass can also make the different transistors communicate with each other more smoothly. The transistors we just talked about can be packed up to ten times closer together. This means that the lines connecting the transistors are shorter, making data transfer up to ten times faster. In technical language this is referred to as the “connection density” of the chip.

In practice

For Intel, it doesn’t stop with research. The chip manufacturer wants to actively use glass in its own production process from 2025. What is striking is that Intel is currently the only major player in the industry that is talking about replacing organic substrates with glass. Intel has invested a lot in research and now wants to benefit from it. This is one of the ways in which Intel wants to become the reference again in the chip landscape after losing many advantages to AMD in recent years.

However, the highlight of Intel innovation is the announcement of the Meteor Lake Core Ultra chips based on the Intel 4 process. You can read a detailed analysis of the latest generation of Intel Core chips here.