Semiconductors


2024-08-29

[News] Two Types of Semiconductors Go Viral with the Sweeping of “Black Myth: Wukong”

Recently, “Black Myth: Wukong” created by Chinese team was released and quickly became a smash hit among game players worldwide with its stunning graphics, rich gameplay, and unique storyline.

Behind this game lies the application of several cutting-edge technologies, including virtual reality and artificial intelligence. These technologies are supported by the underlying hardware, enabling the game to deliver realistic and breathtaking visual effects while ensuring smooth gameplay and responsiveness. Notably, GPU and memory devices represent two key components in this process.

  • High-Performance GPU to Meet Game Demands

“Black Myth: Wukong” features high-definition visuals and complex effects, supporting ray tracing technology that simulates real-world light behavior to provide more realistic lighting and shadow effects. This requires high-performance GPU to offer powerful graphics processing capabilities, which thus ensures a smooth gaming experience.

NVIDIA provided significant technical support for “Black Myth: Wukong.” Its RTX 40 series GPU supports full panoramic ray tracing and Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) 3 technology, delivering smoother and higher-quality game visuals.

NVIDIA showcased “Black Myth: Wukong” at Gamescom, the world’s largest gaming convention, highlighting the game’s performance at the highest visual settings. NVIDIA also announced that “Black Myth: Wukong” is now part of the GeForce Now cloud gaming service, allowing subscribers to play the game without lengthy download times.

Additionally, Colorful collaborated with NVIDIA to launch a special edition “iGame GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Advanced Black Myth: Wukong” graphics card, based on Colorful’s iGame GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Advanced OC model.

This card features deep customization in appearance, 16GB of large memory, a powerful cooling system, and DLSS 3 technology. With local AI computing power of up to 836 TOPS, it can accelerate creative work even further.

Other manufacturers like GALAX, MSI, and Gigabyte have also recently rolled out custom or co-branded graphics cards based on the RTX 40 series for “Black Myth: Wukong.”

  • SSD is in vogue

In light of the official PC specifications, “Black Myth: Wukong” requires a minimum of 16GB RAM and at least 130GB of memory space for the game’s main files, updates, and potential temporary files or cache data.

Compared to HDD (hard disk drives), SSD (solid-state drives) offers faster read/write speeds, lower latency, and greater durability, making them more suitable for large-scale games.

SSD can significantly reduce waiting times during game startup, scene loading, and resource switching, enabling them to become a sought after in the market. And this is why “Black Myth: Wukong” recommends PC setups equipped with SSD.

Recently, Chinese memory brand ZhiTai collaborated with “Black Myth: Wukong” to launch a co-branded version of the TiPlus7100 solid-state drive.

TiPlus7100 “Black Myth: Wukong” edition solid-state drive features an aesthetic design rooted in Eastern culture, which is equipped with high-quality original NAND and Yangtze Memory’s Xtacking® technology architecture.

It offers read speeds of up to 7000MB/s and comes in 1TB and 2TB capacities. The HMB mechanism and SLC Cache intelligent cache design ensure a stutter-free gaming experience. With its M.2 2280 single-sided PCB design, this co-branded edition can meet expansion needs for PS5, laptops, desktops, and more.

In addition to ZhiTai, other manufacturers like UNIC Memory, SCY, and YXSC have also showcased their products recently, which meet the configuration requirements for “Black Myth: Wukong” and offer excellent gaming experiences.

UNIC Memory’s new Chinese-inspired brand UniWhen announced that its MoYunZangJing series uses original memory and offers various frequencies ranging from 6400 to 8000 MT/s.

It supports Intel XMP 3.0 and AMD EXPO dual-platform overclocking techniques, with capacities of 16GB2 and 24GB2, matching the demands for multi-tasking and running multiple games simultaneously.

SCY revealed that its DDR5 UDIMM RGB gaming edition memory, along with the S7000, S7000 Pro, and C7000 series SSD, can provide a buff for “Black Myth: Wukong” players.

The DDR5 UDIMM RGB gaming edition offers up to 32GB (16GBx2) to avoid lag or disconnection during intense gameplay. The S7000 series offers sequential read/write speeds of up to 7400MB/s and 6600MB/s, with up to 4TB of storage.

The S7000 Pro series reaches sequential read/write speeds of 7100MB/s and 6400MB/s, with storage options from 512GB to 4TB. The C7000 series offers sequential read/write speeds of 7000MB/s and 6100MB/s, with up to 2TB of storage, designed for handheld consoles and Steam gaming devices.

At elexcon Shenzhen International Electronics Exhibition 2024, YXSC Semiconductor demonstrated the performance of its consumer-grade PCIe SSD from the F800E/F series running “Black Myth: Wukong.” The F800E/F series features 3D TLC NAND chips, with capacities ranging from 128GB to 2048GB, and adopts the M.2 standard form factor.

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(Photo credit: Stram)

Please note that this article cites information from WeChat account DRAMeXchange.

2024-08-29

[News] SK hynix Reportedly Plans to Implement Chiplet Technology in Memory Controllers within Three Years

As designing and manufacturing large monolithic ICs became more complex, related challenges regarding yield and cost have emerged for semiconductor companies, which boosts the popularity of chiplets. Now the wave has been spreading to the memory sector. According to a report by TheElec, SK hynix intends to integrate the chiplet technology into its memory controllers over the next three years to improve cost management.

In January, the company applied for a brand name called MOSAIC, which represents its chiplet technology, the report notes.

Citing SK hynix Executive Vice President Moon Ki-ill, the report notes that the company currently collaborates with TSMC as the foundry for manufacturing its controllers.

However, within the next two to three years, parts of the controller would be manufactured with advanced nodes, while other sections will use legacy nodes, the report states. Moon added that the company is currently developing technology to connect these different sections.

Moon further explains that while TSMC manufactures the controllers for SK hynix, the memory giant itself is responsible for the packaging work. In the future, under the structure of chiplets, a chip can be divided into separate parts with various functions, and then reconnected to achieve similar performances as if they were a single integrated chip, according to TheElec.

In this scenario, function A might use TSMC’s 7nm node, while function B and C could be produced using legacy nodes from TSMC or another foundry. This approach would enables SK hynix to better manage the costs of its DRAM and NAND products, the report notes.

According to the definition of EDA and Intelligent System Design provider Cadence, chiplet technology results in versatile and customizable modular chips, which leads to reduced development timelines and costs.

The creation and adoption of chiplet standards like UCIe enable seamless integration of chiplets into System-on-Chips (SoCs), unlocking new possibilities in computing and technology applications, according to Cadence.

In addition to SK hynix, Samsung has also brought up plans to adopt the chiplet technology. In July, according to an announcement with Japanese startup Preferred Networks, the two companies plan to showcase groundbreaking AI chiplet solutions for the next-generation data center and generative AI computing market.

According to an earlier report by Gizmochina, Samsung is also said to be mulling to apply 3D chiplet technology to its Exynos mobile APs.

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(Photo credit: SK hynix)

Please note that this article cites information from TheElec and Gizmochina.
2024-08-28

[News] NVIDIA’s Dominance Under Threat? Challengers Are Launching New Products to Compete

NVIDIA’s market leadership has garnered significant attention from other industry players. According to a report from Financial Times, several smaller companies, including Cerebras, d-Matrix, and Grog, have raised hundreds of millions of dollars and are launching new products, hoping to carve out a niche in the market.

Cerebras, founded in 2016, recently unveiled its new platform, Cerebras Inference, based on its CS-3 chip. The company even claims its solution is 20 times faster than NVIDIA’s current generation Hopper for AI inference, and at a fraction of the cost.

Per another report from the Economic Daily News, in March this year, Cerebras also launched the WSE-3 processor designed for training AI models, manufactured using TSMC’s 5nm process. At that time, Cerebras confirmed plans for an IPO and has confidentially filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Notably, Andrew Feldman, CEO of Cerebras, further noted that they have already secured meaningful customers from NVIDIA.

d-Matrix, established five years ago, is launching a new funding round with a target of raising over USD 20 million. This follows their USD 11 million Series B round led by Temasek, completed less than a year ago.

The company plans to fully launch its Corsair platform by the end of the year and is integrating its products with open-source software, including Triton, which competes with NVIDIA’s CUDA. Several of NVIDIA’s largest customers support the use of open-source software.

Groq, founded in the same year as Cerebras and led by a team from Google’s Tensor Processing Unit division, recently raised $64 million from investors including BlackRock Private Equity Partners, giving it a valuation of $2.8 billion.

Despite the rush to find and support the next NVIDIA, semiconductor startups are facing significant challenges, according to the Financial Times.

For example, chipmaker Graphcore was acquired by SoftBank last month for just over USD 6 billion, falling short of the approximately USD 7 billion it had raised from venture capital since its founding in 2016.

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(Photo credit: Cerebras)

Please note that this article cites information from Financial Times and Economic Daily News.

2024-08-28

[News] Japan’s Chip Equipment Sales Hit Record High This Year, with 23.6% YoY Growth in July

According to data released by the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) on August 27th, Japan’s semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales continue to soar, with July sales up by about 20%, marking four consecutive months of double-digit growth. Sales from January to July reached a historic high for the period.

Reportedly, the sales of Japan-made chip equipment in July 2024 (based on a 3-month average basis, including exports) reached JPY 348.092 billion, a significant 23.6% increase compared to the same month last year.

This marks the seventh consecutive month of growth and the fourth consecutive month with over 10% growth. Monthly sales have surpassed JPY 300 billion for nine straight months.

Compared to the previous month (June 2024), sales increased by 1.2%, marking the eighth monthly growth in nine months.

From January to July 2024, Japan’s chip equipment sales totaled JPY 2.480115 trillion, a 16.7% increase compared to the same period last year. This figure surpasses the previous record of JPY 2.134268 trillion set in 2022, setting a new all-time high.

The upward trend is in accordance with the observation by Japan’s chip equipment giant Tokyo Electron (TEL) and the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI).

Tokyo Electron (TEL) announced in its August 8 financial report that due to strong investments in AI servers, the 2024 global wafer fab equipment (WFE) market size has been revised upward from the previous estimate of around USD 100 billion (up 5% year-on-year) to over USD 100 billion.

The Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) forecast report released on July 10 predicts that global chip equipment sales in 2024 are estimated to increase by 3.4% year-over-year to USD 109 billion, surpassing the USD 107.4 billion record set in 2022.

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(Photo credit: TEL)

Please note that this article cites information from SEAJ, TEL and SEMI.

2024-08-28

[News] Lip-Bu Tan Resigns from Intel Board Amid Reported Disagreements

As per sources cited in a report from Reuters, it’s revealed that former Intel board member Lip-Bu Tan stepped down after just two years due to disagreements with CEO Pat Gelsinger and other board members.

Two years ago, former Cadence Design Systems CEO Lip-Bu Tan was invited to join Intel’s board of directors to help reverse the company’s operational decline and restore its position as a chipmaker.

In October 2023, his role was expanded to oversee Intel’s manufacturing operations. However, he reportedly stepped down from Intel’s board last week.

The regulatory filings submitted last week have indicated that Tan’s departure from the board was due to a personal decision to reprioritize various commitments, though he remains supportive of Intel and its critical work.

Yet, Reuters further reported that Lip-Bu Tan, a seasoned semiconductor industry veteran, expressed frustration bloated workforce, risk aversion, and lagging AI strategies. This suggests uncertainty around Intel’s efforts to return to profitability.

As of now, neither Intel nor Tan’s venture capital firm, Walden Catalyst, have commented on the matter.

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(Photo credit: Intel)

Please note that this article cites information from Reuters.

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