Catalog of SIP Cores
System on Chip design resources
System on Chip design resources
July 2, 2026 -
By Joshua Rubin, Advanced Packaging Technologist
A chiplet is a small, modular integrated circuit that performs a specific function and is designed to be combined with other chiplets within a single package to create a more complex, unified component. Looking at the volumes of designs shipping with chiplets in servers and PCs (see Figure 1), one can see that chiplets are quickly becoming the dominant integration strategy for these markets. For server and PC markets alone, compute chiplet market revenue is forecast to grow from $43.5 billion in 2024 to $144.9 billion by 2030 at a 31% compound annual growth rate. Together, these trends make clear that chiplets are not a niche packaging innovation but a fundamental architectural shift that is redefining how performance scales, how products are built, and how value is created across the semiconductor industry.
A: In many ways, yes. Early multi-chip modules, such as IBM’s 9121 from 1991 and even earlier thermal conduction modules (TCMs) from the 1980s, already demonstrated heterogeneous integration, disaggregated architectures, and system-in-package (SiP) concepts. These designs combined CMOS static RAM (SRAM) cache chips and bipolar logic chips on complex ceramic substrates. Through the 2000s, heterogeneous integration expanded further as separately manufactured components such as processors, memory, sensors, and other diverse components were assembled within a single package. By the 2010s, the industry began to consolidate around what is now explicitly defined as chiplet-based design. Putting aside the nuances of the nomenclature, it is important to recognize that the industry has dramatically accelerated the enablement, standardization, and productization of chiplet-based hardware.