IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1547121
18 I-CONNECT007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2026 performance, bandwidth, power efficiency, and manufacturability. In many ways, the opportunity has unfolded exactly as we anticipated, but the pace has exceeded expectations. What can MKS solve today because these capa- bilities sit under one roof? Many companies provide individual technologies. Few can address the broader manufacturing challenge across multiple levels of the interconnect ecosystem. Today, MKS combines advanced materials, electro- plating chemistry and equipment, laser processing, optics, photonics, vacuum control, motion systems, and process expertise. This enables us to approach customer challenges from a system perspective rather than as isolated process steps. For example, forming an advanced microvia or preparing a surface for hybrid bonding is not simply a chemistry challenge or a laser challenge. Yield, reliability, throughput, and manufacturability depend on the interaction of multiple process technologies. By bringing these capabilities together, we can help customers optimize entire manufacturing flows, improve yields, shorten development cycles, and accelerate adoption of next-generation archi- tectures. That is the essence of our Optimize the Interconnect strategy. What is AI infrastructure demanding from PCBs and package substrates today that manufactur- ers weren't being asked to deliver even three or four years ago? The requirements have increased dramatically AI systems demand substantially higher bandwidth, greater power density, lower latency, and more effi- cient thermal management. As a result, manufactur- ers are being asked to produce increasingly com- plex PCB, substrate, and packaging structures with tighter tolerances than ever before. We're seeing demands for higher layer counts, finer geometries, smaller microvias, more advanced routing, tighter overlay accuracy, improved warpage control, and greater consistency across extremely large production volumes. At the package level, technologies such as silicon interposers, advanced redistribution layers, HBM integration, and hybrid bonding are pushing manu- facturing precision to entirely new levels. Features measured in only a few microns are becoming increasingly common. The challenge is no longer simply manufacturing smaller structures. The challenge is manufac- turing them repeatedly, reliably, and economically at scale. What does the next chapter of MKS look like? The next chapter for MKS will be defined by increas- ing complexity across the electronics ecosystem. Over the next five years, I expect to see continued growth in advanced packaging, heterogeneous integration, high-bandwidth memory, photonics- electronics convergence, panel-level packaging, and next-generation interconnect architectures. These trends all point toward one conclusion: Manufacturing precision will become even more important. Our focus remains on enabling precision across the entire hardware stack. We will continue investing in the technologies that help customers address challenges related to connectivity, band- width, thermal management, yield, contamination control, and scalability. If I were placing a bet, it would be on the continued importance of system-level integration. The future leaders in electronics will not simply have the best individual technologies. They will have the best ability to integrate multiple technologies into reliable, scalable manufacturing solutions. That's exactly where MKS is uniquely positioned to create value. AI may be driven by software, but it scales through physical infrastructure, and MKS intends to remain at the center of enabling that infrastructure. I-CONNECT007 M KS I N C. Q & A