Industry research projects strong momentum in advanced chip packaging technologies for data center AI applications through 2030.
According to DIGITIMES Asia's latest report, global data center AI chip shipments are projected to grow from 30.5 million units in 2024 to 53.4 million units in 2030. This data center AI chip category encompasses high-end and mid-range GPUs, application-specific AI chips such as Google's TPUs, AI server CPUs, and networking and interconnect-related chips including Switch ASICs, rack-scale-up Interconnect Chips, DPUs, and NICs.
The fastest-growing segments by shipment volume include application-specific AI chips, mid-range GPUs that use GDDR DRAM such as Nvidia CPX GPUs, and interconnect-related chips like NVSwitch ICs. In contrast, high-end GPUs and AI server CPUs show relatively lower growth rates over the 2024–2030 period, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate of only about 10%. However, when considering revenue from high-end packaging and end-market sales, the growth rate is much higher than the shipment growth rate, driven by increased content value per chip and adoption of advanced packaging.
AMD recently forecast that the global server CPU revenue Total Addressable Market CAGR will reach 18% between 2025 and 2030, implying that the Average Selling Price CAGR for server CPUs could exceed 7% due to increased core count and adoption of more advanced processes and packaging. For GPUs, despite relatively moderate growth in shipments, wafer foundry and packaging revenue CAGRs are both expected to exceed 40% in 2024-2030, driven by the increasing number of GPU and I/O dies per chip.
Throughout the 2024–2030 forecast period, the overall revenue share of data center AI chip packaging will remain GPU-centric. It is estimated that by 2030, packaging revenue for data center GPUs will remain over 40% higher than that of application-specific AI chips. While AI server CPUs and AI networking-related chips have high shipment volumes, the high-end packaging market will still be overwhelmingly dominated by GPUs and application-specific AI chips.
DIGITIMES Asia forecasts that the global market size for advanced packaging of data center AI chips will grow from US$5.6 billion in 2024 to US$53.1 billion in 2030, representing a CAGR of over 40%, aligning closely with AMD's recent Financial Analyst Day estimate that the global Data Center TAM CAGR will exceed 40% over the next five years. Key drivers include the AI wave and computing power arms race among tech giants, advanced packaging driving system-level scaling to extend Moore's Law, and geopolitical competition between the U.S. and China alongside the rise of Sovereign AI initiatives. Primary inhibitors include the re-evaluation of return on investment relative to massive computing power investments and the impact of cheaper and more efficient new technologies.