“Today’s announcement is a massive win for Canada and our dynamic tech sector. It will create high-paying jobs, invest in innovation, strengthen supply chains, and help make sure the most advanced technologies are Canadian-made. Semiconductors power the world, and we’re putting Canada at the forefront of that opportunity,” says Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada.

In addition, IBM will be researching and developing methods for scalable manufacturing and other advanced assembly processes to support the packaging of different chip technologies, to further Canada’s role in the North American semiconductor supply chain and expand and anchor Canada’s capabilities in advanced packaging.

The agreements allow for collaborations with small and medium-sized Canadian enterprises, with the intent of fostering the development of a semiconductor ecosystem, now and into the future.

IBM’s Bromont plant is one of North America’s largest chip assembly and testing facilities, having operated in the region for 52 years. Today, the facility transforms advanced semiconductor components into state-of-the-art microelectronic components. 

Chip packaging—the process of connecting integrated circuits on a chip or circuit board—has become more complex as electronic devices have shrunk and the components of chips themselves get smaller and smaller. IBM announced the world’s first 2-nanometer chip technology in 2021 and, as the semiconductor industry moves towards new methods of chip construction, advances in packaging will grow in importance.