BriefThermal controlThe next gap in HBM back-end competition will be made in cooling time, not equipment
In March 2026 a Korean equipment maker disclosed plans to supply 2.5D thermocompression bonders to foundries in China and Taiwan. This brief marks the point at which back-end competition shifts from owning equipment to managing cycle time, and sets out the physical reason the bottleneck sits in the cooling segment after bonding.
