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February 25, 2026

VIEWPOINT 2026: Melissa Grupen-Shemansky, CTO and VP of Technology Coalitions, SEMI



VIEWPOINT 2026: Melissa Grupen-Shemansky, CTO and VP of Technology Coalitions, SEMI
Melissa Grupen-Shemansky, CTO and VP of Technology Coalitions, SEMI
Advanced packaging (AP) and heterogeneous integration (HI) now define the industry's trajectory as traditional scaling reaches its limits. The shift to multi-die architectures, chiplets, and 3D stacking is accelerating, driven by insatiable compute demand across AI, high-performance computing (HPC), data centers, and emerging edge applications. But this transition also exposes critical challenges—ranging from power-delivery complexity and interconnect parasitics to thermal constraints and supply-chain imbalance.

Although the industry finds itself grappling with a very broad and varied technology space, it is not a surprise we find ourselves at this inflection point. John von Neumann himself anticipated that someday his famed computer architecture would bottleneck at the CPU-to-memory interface.

And Gordon Moore predicted it would eventually become more efficient and economical to move to a multi-chip approach to continue the transistor density trajectory observed for the first 40 years of the integrated circuit life cycle. In effect, these forces broaden the scope of device manufacturing, calling for a more holistic approach and necessitating new design methodologies that span the chip, package, and system.

To this end, multiple opportunities are arising:
• HI: As designers and high-volume assembly are no longer thinking solely within the silicon mindset, designing systems that take advantage of non-Si device characteristics will become more commonplace.
• Energy loss will put more pressure on reducing interconnect parasitics, accelerating the integration of photonics.
• The memory-to-logic bottleneck has encouraged innovators to change the way we look at the memory stack.
• And increased functionality—agentic capability if you will—in smaller, wearable electronics will go hand-in-hand with societal shifts, opening up new consumer markets like medical wearables.

SEMI is advancing this transformation through its global Advanced Packaging & Heterogeneous Integration (APHI) initiative, uniting design, manufacturing, research, and standards communities to accelerate innovation and manufacturability.

By building shared roadmaps, supporting workforce development, enabling interoperability, and fostering pre-competitive technology coalitions worldwide, SEMI is helping industry leaders navigate complexity and speed the path from concept to commercialization.

As we enter 2026 and beyond, the industry's ability to deliver reliable, scalable, energy-efficient systems will hinge on how effectively we embrace and industrialize HI, together.

Melissa Grupen-Shemansky, CTO and VP of Technology Coalitions
SEMI
http://www.semi.org
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