The technology of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is directly influenced by business trends within the semiconductor industry. Companies that manufacture devices and integrated circuits can be grouped into three broad industry segments: leading edge, mainstream or established, and emerging technology. Development of new device architectures, new integration schemes, and ultimately new commercial products are often enabled by development of new and optimized CMP processes. This is illustrated with examples from three different CMP development projects: oxide CMP for advanced silicon substrates with inlaid features requiring sub-nanometer topography, Pt CMP for high temperature vias, and polymer CMP for an advanced packaging interposer design.