[News] Japan’s Rix Said to Target AI Chip Packaging Boom with Cleaning Tools in 2026
As semiconductor giants like TSMC accelerate development and capacity expansion for 2.5D and 3D packaging technologies such as CoWoS, a new business opportunity is emerging for chipmaking tool companies. According to Nikkei, Japan’s Rix is preparing to mass-produce advanced semiconductor cleaning equipment as early as 2026 to meet the growing demand from AI-focused chips.
The company, in an earlier press release, explained that AI chip production presents a particular challenge: multiple semiconductor dies are interconnected through an interposer, creating extremely narrow gaps both between the chips and the interposer and between the interposer and the main substrate.
According to Rix, the new cleaning system, compatible with 2.5D and 3D packaging technologies, features a reduced-pressure mechanism that allows flux cleaning fluid to penetrate narrow gaps that were difficult to clean using conventional methods. The flux cleaning system can effectively remove flux residues even from the ultra-narrow gaps in large-format packages—some measuring just a few tens of microns, the company said.
Notably, Rix said in last October that the company has already received orders and delivered flux cleaning systems for next-generation semiconductor production from several major semiconductor firms. The mechanisms behind this technology were under patent application, the company noted.
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(Photo credit: Rix)
