At the Google I/O 2024 developer conference on Tuesday, Google unveiled its 6th generation custom chip, the Trillium TPU, which is scheduled to hit the market later this year, according to the report by TechCrunch.

According to the information provided by Google on its website, compared to TPU v5e, Trillium boasts a 4.7x peak compute performance increase per chip. Google has also doubled the High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) capacity and bandwidth, along with a 1x increase in Interchip Interconnect (ICI) bandwidth between chips.

Additionally, Trillium features the third-generation SparseCore, a dedicated accelerator for processing large embeddings, aimed at handling advanced ranking and recommendation workloads. Moreover, Trillium achieves a 67% higher energy efficiency compared to TPU v5e.

Trillium has the capacity to expand up to 256 TPUs within a singular pod boasting high bandwidth and low latency. Additionally, it incorporates multislice technology, allowing Google to interlink thousands of chips, thus constructing a supercomputer capable of facilitating a data center network capable of processing petabits of data per second.

In addition to Google, major cloud players such as AWS, Meta, and Microsoft have also made their way to develop their own AI Chips.

In late 2023, Microsoft unveiled two custom-designed chips, the Microsoft Azure Maia AI Accelerator, optimized for AI tasks and generative AI, and the Microsoft Azure Cobalt CPU, an Arm-based processor tailored to run general purpose compute workloads on the Microsoft Cloud. The former is reportedly to be manufactured using TSMC’s 5nm process.

In May 2023, Meta also unveiled the Meta Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA) v1, its first-generation AI inference accelerator designed in-house with Meta’s AI workloads in mind.

AWS has also jumped into the AI chip market. In November, 2023, AWS released Trainium2, a chip for training AI models.

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(Photo credit: Google)

NOR Flash manufacturer Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (XMC) recently disclosed an IPO counseling filing with the Hubei Securities Regulatory Bureau, according to the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Its recently announced bidding project may indicate its ambition to become China’s first HBM foundry, according to the report by Chinese media Semi Insights.

As per information from its website, XMC provides 12-inch foundry services for NOR Flash, CIS, and Logic applications with processes of 40 nanometers and above. Originally a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC), XMC announced in March its first external financing round, increasing its registered capital from approximately CNY 5.782 billion to about CNY 8.479 billion. Its IPO counseling filing also indicates that it is still majority-owned by YMTC, with a shareholding ratio of 68.1937%.

According to market sources cited in the same report, XMC’s initiation of external financing and IPO plan is primarily aimed at supporting the significant expansion during a crucial development phase for YMTC. Given the substantial scale of YMTC, completing an IPO within three years poses challenges. Therefore, XMC was chosen as the IPO entity to enhance financing channels.

It is noteworthy that XMC also announced its latest bidding project on HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) – related advanced packaging technology R&D and production line construction, according to local media.

The project indicates the company’s capability to apply three-dimensional integrated multi-wafer stacking technology to develop domestically produced HBM products with higher capacity, greater bandwidth, lower power consumption, and higher production efficiency. With plans to add 16 sets of equipment, XMC’s latest project aims to achieve a monthly output capacity of over 3000 wafers (12 inches), showing its ambition of becoming China’s first HBM foundry.

On December 3, 2018, XMC announced the successful development of its three-dimensional wafer stacking technology based on its three-dimensional integration technology platform. This marks a significant advancement for the company in the field of three-dimensional integration technology, enabling higher density and more complex chip integration.

Currently, XMC has made much progress in the research and development of three-dimensional integrated multi-wafer stacking technology, which has been evident in the successful development of three-wafer stacking technology, the application of three-dimensional integration technology in back-illuminated image sensors, advancements in HBM technology research and industrialization efforts, as well as breakthroughs in the 3D NAND project.

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(Photo credit: XMC)

In 2023, NVIDIA secured a large number of AI chip orders through the sale of data center GPU, making it the most prominent company in the AI field for the year. In this context, many chip design companies have been eyeing the AI chip market, aiming to seize the opportunities presented by AI development and achieve greater profits.

According to a report from Nikkei Asia, Arm, a subsidiary of SoftBank Group, is developing AI processor to be used in SoftBank’s data centers. The report states that Arm has already established a department specific to AI processors at its UK headquarters in hopes of having prototypes ready by spring 2025, with an official release in spring 2025, and mass production at wafer foundries starting in fall 2025. SoftBank will bear the initial development costs, expected to reach several hundred billion yen.

As per the plan, SoftBank intends to build Arm-based data centers in the United States, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East by 2026. Given the high power supply requirements of data centers, SoftBank also plans to expand its presence into the power generation sector, developing wind and solar energy facilities and exploring next-generation nuclear fusion technology.

The report indicates that once Arm’s AI processors enter mass production, the AI chip business might be spun off. Additionally, SoftBank aims to implement a broader strategy in the AI field to enhance the competitiveness of its data center, robotics, and power generation divisions, and to facilitate innovation. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has emphasized that the application of general artificial intelligence will fundamentally transform industries such as shipping, pharmaceuticals, finance, manufacturing, and logistics.

Statistics show that the AI chip market size is mushrooming, projected to surge from USD 30 billion in 2024 to over USD 100 billion by 2029, and exceed USD 200 billion by 2032. Therefore, despite NVIDIA’s current leading position, various chip companies are striving to meet the demands for AI chips across different industries, seeking opportunities in this fast-growing market.

According to TrendForce’s latest memory spot price trend report, due to relatively high level of inventories, the uptrend of DRAM spot prices is not as sharp compared with that of contract prices. Meanwhile, regarding NAND Flash prices, the spot market is not seen with much price inquiries either as the market confidence remains weak. Details are as follows:

DRAM Spot Price:
The uptrend of spot prices is not as sharp compared with that of contract prices. Currently, China’s May Day holiday has just ended, so the overall transaction volume remains low in the spot market. Furthermore, module houses have already accumulated too much inventory, so their focus is now on selling off their existing stocks. Overall, spot prices lack upward momentum in the recent period. The average spot price of mainstream chips (i.e., 1Gx8 2666MT/s) fell by 0.31% from US$1.949 last week to US$1.943 this week.

NAND Flash Spot Price:
The spot market is not seen with much price inquiries and transaction due to the certain extent of inventory being held by channels, distributors, and clients, as well as their conservative outlook on the market for the next two quarters. A number of buyers are still holding onto their low-priced inventory established from 3Q23, and are waiting patiently for market response in 3Q24 with lingering profitability in average cost. Spot price for 512Gb TLC wafers has dropped by 0.89% this week, arriving at US$3.675.

According to reports from Chinese media My Drivers and Gizchina, Qualcomm is said to have confirmed that Huawei will no longer require their processors.

Amidst escalating tensions between the United States and China due to trade and technology restrictions, Qualcomm’s CFO reportedly confirmed that Huawei will not be procuring 4G chips from Qualcomm in the future, highlighting a significant shift in the global technological landscape.

The same reports mentioned that the U.S. has tightened export restrictions on Huawei, revoking licenses for semiconductor sales from both Qualcomm and Intel. However, the impact on Huawei in terms of smartphone processors is said to be limited.

Qualcomm once stated on May 7, 2024 that the U.S. Department of Commerce notified the semiconductor company of the revocation of the its license to export 4G and certain other integrated circuit products, including Wi-Fi products, to Huawei and its affiliates and subsidiaries, which would be effective immediately.

Huawei has been working on developing its own chipsets, particularly the Kirin series, which have been used in its flagship smartphones, in order to tackle with the ongoing trade tensions and restrictions imposed by the United States on Huawei’s access to advanced technology and components. Its latest smartphone Pura 70, launched in early May, is powered by the Kirin 9010 processor.

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(Photo credit: iStock)