The Chiplet Revolution

By Loïc Hamon, Head of Center of Excellence Silicon Engineering, Capgemini

January 5, 2024

Transforming the semiconductor landscape and creating unprecedented opportunities for microchip users

The semiconductor industry is standing at the edge of a profound transformation, thanks to the advent of a game-changing technology: chiplets.

Throughout its history, the semiconductor industry has pursued relentless integration and miniaturization. However, the escalating costs and complexities associated with cutting-edge Integrated Circuits (ICs) on advanced semiconductor technology have led to a revolutionary alternative approach: chiplets.

Most contemporary chips are designed as a monolithic SoC (System-on-Chip), integrating all essential functions—such as the processor cores, domain-specific hardware accelerator, memory, and interfaces — into a monolithic die, ie everything is built into an integrated circuit on a single piece of semiconductor.

Chiplets are a game-changer. They consist of a self-contained semiconductor die that, when combined with other dies through advanced packaging techniques, forms a complex integrated circuit similar to a monolithic integrated circuit. This modular approach enhances scalability, cost-efficiency, and performance. It also enables the integration of diverse functions, such as general-purpose processing, domain-specific processing, and memory into a single system, overcoming some limitations of traditional monolithic designs.

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