In an insightful conversation between Semiconductor For You and Ram Trichur, Global Market & Strategy Head – Semiconductor Packaging at Henkel Adhesive Technologies, the discussion delves into global trends, innovations, and India’s growing semiconductor ambitions. With over two decades of industry experience spanning wafer fabs and electronics manufacturing, Ram shares how Henkel’s materials innovations and its new Chennai Applications Engineering Centre are empowering advanced packaging, driving reliability, and strengthening India’s position in the global semiconductor value chain.
- What global trends and challenges are currently shaping the semiconductor packaging industry, and how is Henkel addressing them?
The semiconductor industry is at a pivotal point, driven by demand from multiple verticals such as automotive, data centers, and mobile applications. The key trends shaping packaging can be viewed through a couple of lenses: technology and geopolitics. On the technology side, AI/HPC, EV electrification, and new consumer devices are fueling packaging innovation. At the geopolitical level, localization and supply chain rebalancing are influencing where and how devices are manufactured.
Henkel addresses these challenges with a broad packaging materials portfolio spanning wire bond to advanced packaging. We continue to invest in next-generation die attach and sintering materials for power electronics and in advanced materials—underfills, encapsulants, adhesives, and thermal solutions—to enable AI/HPC packaging. With a global innovation and manufacturing footprint across Asia and the West, Henkel is well-positioned to support customers’ localization needs while delivering cutting-edge technologies
- How do you see advanced packaging contributing to India’s ambition of becoming a global hub for semiconductor and electronics manufacturing?
Advanced packaging will be central to India’s long-term ambition of establishing itself as a key player in the global semiconductor value chain. While advanced packaging represents a strategic entry point for OSATs to build high-value capabilities, I believe India can capture short- to mid-term opportunities by scaling wire bond packaging capacity, especially for power devices and traditional wirebond packages. Both pathways align with India’s twin goals: building self-sufficiency while establishing itself as a global technology contributor in semiconductors.
- What role will Henkel’s newly launched Applications Engineering Centre in Chennai play in supporting India’s semiconductor ecosystem?
As India accelerates investment in electronics and semiconductor manufacturing, Henkel is strengthening our local commitment. The Chennai Applications Engineering Centre is designed to speed up the introduction of our products for consumer electronics and semiconductor customers in India. Equipped with state-of-the-art dispensing, testing, and material analysis systems, the center is staffed with engineers trained in both wire bond and advanced packaging applications. The team is well equipped to support emerging opportunities in India’s semiconductor manufacturing landscape.
Beyond local expertise, the Chennai team is connected to Henkel’s global network of semiconductor labs and experts across Asia and worldwide, ensuring Indian customers benefit from both local responsiveness and global innovation.
- Could you highlight Henkel’s latest innovations in packaging materials that are driving advancements in AI, 5G, IoT, automotive, and HPC?
We are continuing our strong innovation investments in advanced packaging addressing AI and high-performance computing trends in datacenter and mobile markets. We predict large technology inflections in this market due to emergence of new computational methods, co-packaged optics, shifts in packaging processes from wafer-level to panel level and evolution of new substrate and interposer materials.
Henkel is developing underfills, encapsulants, adhesives and thermal materials to address challenges in building next generation 2.5D/3D packages for end devices like cloud processors, high bandwidth memory, mobile application processors and client processors. We recently launched Loctite Eccobond LCM 1000AG-1, a new anhydride-free, ultra-low warpage liquid molding material designed for wafer-level packaging (WLP) and panel-level packaging (PLP) processes. This new product delivers stable warpage control throughout redistribution layer (RDL) processing, enabling high-yield, reliable advanced packaging solutions.
- With increasing miniaturization and performance demands in chips, how is Henkel ensuring reliability, scalability, and long-term performance of its packaging solutions?
While miniaturization is a continuing trend for mobile and handheld products, we continue to observe large die, and large body package as a key feature for AI/HPC based cloud and data center processors. Both of these end markets continue to demand uncompromising performance and reliability in all new product introductions.
Henkel works closely with customers and partners to anticipate long-term packaging requirements. These insights shape our product roadmaps and guide investment in fundamental technology platforms and toolboxes. This approach allows us to deliver scalable, reliable solutions tailored to the evolving challenges of semiconductor packaging.
- How does Henkel plan to align with India’s first OSAT Pilot Line initiative in Gujarat and similar government-led programs?
Henkel has supplied packaging materials to the semiconductor industry for over 50 years, and we are proud to be contributing to India’s emerging ecosystem. Several OSATs and IDMs in Gujarat and beyond already use Henkel materials in their BOMs for processes being relocated from overseas.
For customers engaged in new product development, our teams work hand-in-hand to identify pain points and opportunities for value creation. We also conduct on-site technology roadmap sessions and training programs to introduce advanced die attach and flip-chip solutions, ensuring our customers in India can scale successfully.
- In what ways is Henkel collaborating with global semiconductor manufacturers and designing houses to bridge chip design with real-world applications?
We work closely with semiconductor firms (foundries, OSATs, design houses) to understand their roadmap, process limitations such as warpage, alignment, curing, thermal/stress constraints, and other challenges. From those learnings, we co‐create materials and process adaptations to help create value for our customers. As an example, our underfill solutions are tuned for advanced wafer node applications of mobile application processor packages. They are designed for very fast capillary flow to fill gaps reliably and reduce manufacturing defects but also help maximize operational efficiency and productivity, thereby balancing and delivering requirements for the fables as well as our OSAT customers.
- What key solutions or technologies will Henkel showcase at Productronica 2025, and how do they reflect the company’s long-term vision for semiconductor packaging?
At Productronica 2025, Henkel highlighted its role as a trusted materials partner across both consumer electronics and semiconductors. For consumer devices, we showcased innovations in structural adhesives, encapsulants, and thermal management solutions that enhance performance and durability in smartphones, wearables, and accessories.
On the semiconductor side, our portfolio spans wire bond packaging—including high thermal die attach pastes, sintering materials, and die attach films—and advanced packaging with underfills and encapsulants for AI/HPC.
These solutions reflect Henkel’s strategic priorities: enabling high-power, high-reliability applications; advancing AI/HPC packaging; supporting regional manufacturing; and driving sustainability. Our roadmap is built to deliver on these commitments for the long term.