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TSMC Warns of 6x Power Surge in AI Systems, Citing Cooling and Power as Critical Bottlenecks
Electronic Technology · Semiconductors · cnyes · 2026-09-01
2330
TSMC executive Chen Yen-ming highlights that rising AI computing demands will drive a 6x increase in power consumption, making thermal and power management the top priorities for next-gen systems.
What Happened
Surging AI Power Demands: As AI computing capabilities continue to expand, the issue of high power consumption has become a critical challenge for the industry. TSMC executive Chen Yen-ming noted that due to advancements in 3D stacking and heterogeneous integration, total power consumption for single systems is expected to increase by approximately six times over the next five years.
Shift to STCO: To address these mounting challenges, the industry is shifting its focus from chip-level optimization to System Technology Co-Optimization (STCO). This approach is essential for managing the complex power and thermal requirements of next-generation AI infrastructure as performance demands grow.
Scaling Advanced Packaging: TSMC projects that between 2024 and 2029, CoWoS packaging sizes will expand from 3.3 times the reticle size to over 14 times. During this period, the number of transistors within a single package is expected to grow by 48 times, while HBM bandwidth is projected to increase by more than 34 times.
Critical Infrastructure Bottlenecks: Chen emphasized that power delivery and thermal management have become the two most critical bottlenecks for the expansion of next-generation AI systems. Solving these physical constraints will be the defining factor for the future scalability and efficiency of global AI infrastructure.