According to a report from the Korean media outlet TheElec, South Korea is planning to establish an AI semiconductor innovation center in Silicon Valley.

The Korean Semiconductor Industry Association (KSIA) announced on Wednesday that it would accept applications until May 30th for those interested in residing at the planned center. A committee will review the applicants in June, with the move-in process beginning in August for those who are selected.

This initiative is part of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s project to promote system semiconductor technology for export. Launched in April, the project aims to establish research platforms in the US and China. The ministry is collaborating with industry associations like KSIA for this endeavor.

A KSIA spokesperson informed TheElec that the center will provide independent offices for three to four companies and feature a large, open space for additional companies. The center will reportedly offer support for companies’ prototype testing, verification, and other assistance.

The South Korea government has been aggressively working on strengthening the country’s position in the semiconductor industry, as a series of ambitious projects have been announced recently, the AI Chip innovation center in the U.S. being its latest endeavor.

Earlier in May, the South Korean government is said to be planning to introduce a comprehensive chip investment and research support plan, surpassing KRW 10 trillion (roughly USD 7.3 billion) in scale, to enhance its position in the critical semiconductor industry, as per a report from the Economic Daily News.

Meanwhile, the report from South Korean media outlet BusinessKorea stated that on May 2nd, the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy announced the “Second Strategic Planning and Investment Council,” comprising of representatives from research institutes, universities, etc, approved 62 new R&D projects for 2025, including flagship projects and roadmaps in over 11 domains.

Read more

• [News] South Korea Reportedly Pushes for KRW 10 Trillion Investment Plan to Strengthen Semiconductor Industry Position
• [News] South Korea Reportedly Develops AI Chips for Autonomous Vehicles, Challenging NVIDIA

(Photo credit: iStock)

SoftBank Group’s global IP leader, Arm, has reportedly announced the establishment of an AI chip division with the goal of developing AI chip prototypes by spring 2025. According to a report from DRAMeXchange, mass production will be handled by contract manufacturers, with initial production slated to begin in autumn 2025.

Arm will cover the initial development costs estimated to reach several trillion yen, funded by SoftBank Group. Once a large-scale production system is built, Arm’s AI chip business may be spun off and incorporated into a SoftBank Group division, which is because SoftBank holds a total of 90% of Arm’s shares and has been in talks with TSMC to secure production capacity.

Arm is a significant player in the global semiconductor industry, renowned for its energy-efficient Arm architecture, which commands over 90% of the global market share in smartphone chip field. SoftBank acquired Arm in 2016 for USD 32 billion, empowering Arm to go public on the US stock exchange in September 2023.

Last week, Arm reported fiscal 2024 fourth quarter revenue of USD 928 million (+47% YoY) and adjusted operating profit of USD 391 million. It forecasts first-quarter revenue for fiscal year 2025 to be USD 875-925 million, expecting annual revenue to be USD 3.8-4.1 billion.

According to Canada’s Precedence Research, the current market size for AI chips is USD 30 billion, expected to exceed USD 100 billion by 2029 and USD 200 billion by 2032. Despite NVIDIA’s dominant position in AI chip technology, it is unable to meet the growing demand.

Eyeing on the opportunities presented by the AI wave, SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son has identified AI as a key focus area for development and is seeking to raise USD 100 billion to found an AI chip company to compete with NVIDIA.

Read more

• [News] SoftBank Founder Masayoshi Son Plans to Raise USD 100 Billion to Establish AI Chip Company

(Photo credit: SoftBank News)

According to a report from Bloomberg, Intel, the chip giant, expects its revenue for the current quarter to be impacted after the US government revoked chip sales licenses to Huawei. Intel estimates that its revenue for the second quarter of this year will be below USD 13 billion, though still within the previously projected range of USD 12.5 billion to 13.5 billion. The company’s full-year financial forecast remains unchanged, with both revenue and profits expected to grow.

The U.S. government has reportedly revoked the licenses of Intel and Qualcomm to supply semiconductor chips used in laptops and handsets to Huawei. According to Reuters citing sources, some companies received notices on May 7th, and the revocation of the licenses took immediate effect.

Huawei unveiled its first AI notebook last month, which is powered by Intel chips. This has sparked dissatisfaction among some US lawmakers, who have called for the revocation of related export licenses.

In 2019, the US government added Huawei to the “Entity List,” prohibiting suppliers from providing goods to Huawei without an export license. However, US suppliers such as Intel and Qualcomm were granted permission to continue supplying certain chips to Huawei, including central processors for laptops and 4G smartphone chips.

Amid the escalating US-China tech war, these export licenses have allowed some companies to maintain stable revenue from the Chinese market.

Huawei has become the epicenter of the US-China trade conflict, with the US restricting Huawei’s access to Qualcomm’s latest 5G chips and implementing comprehensive controls on NVIDIA’s AI chips, limiting Huawei’s business growth. On the other hand, China has initiated countermeasures, demanding the telecom industry to cease using foreign chips by 2027.

The US Republican Representative Elise Stefanik believes that revoking the licenses will strengthen U.S. national security, protect U.S. intellectual property rights, and thus weaken the technological advancement capabilities of communist China.

Akash Palkhiwala, Qualcomm’s CFO, stated in early May that as the Chinese telecom industry shifts towards 5G development and stops procuring Qualcomm’s approved 4G chips, the company anticipates earning no revenue from Huawei by 2025.

Read more

• [News] U.S. Imposes Further Sanctions, Revoking Intel and Qualcomm’s License to Supply Chips to Huawei
• [News] U.S. Department of Commerce Claims Huawei Chips Not as Advanced, Lag Behind U.S. Chips by Several Years

(Photo credit: iStock)

“The Dawn of Generative AI Has Come!” This new chapter in the course of human technological evolution was first introduced by NVIDIA’s founder, Jensen Huang. Qualcomm’s CEO, Cristiano Amon, also shares this optimism regarding generative AI. Amon believes this technology is rapidly evolving and being adopted for applications such as mobile devices. It is expected to have the potential to radically transform the landscape of the smartphone industry. Similarly, Intel has declared the arrival of the “AI PC” era, signaling a major shift in computing-related technologies and applications.

This year, AI is transitioning from cloud computing to on-premise computing. Various “AI PCs” and “AI smartphones” are being introduced to the market, offering a wide range of selections. The current year of 2024 is even being referred to as the “Year of AI PC,” with brands such as Asus, Acer, Dell, Lenovo, and LG actively releasing new products to capture market share. With the rapid rise of AI PCs and AI smartphones, revolutionary changes are expected to occur in workplaces and people’s daily lives. Furthermore, the PC and smartphone industries are also expected to be reinvigorated with new sources of demand.

An AI PC refers to a laptop (notebook) computer capable of performing on-device AI computations. Its main difference from regular office or business laptops lies in its CPU, which includes an additional neural processing unit (NPU). Examples of AI CPUs include Intel’s Core Ultra series and AMD’s Ryzen 8040 series. Additionally, AI PCs come with more DRAM to meet the demands of AI computations, thereby supporting related applications like those involving machine learning.

Microsoft’s role is crucial in this context, as the company has introduced a conversational AI assistant called “Copilot” that aims to seamlessly integrate itself into various tasks, such as working on Microsoft Office documents, video calls, web browsing, and other forms of collaborative activities. With Copilot, it is now possible to add a direct shortcut button for AI on the keyboard, allowing PC users to experience a holistic collaborative relationship with AI.

In the future, various computer functions will continue to be optimized with AI. Moreover, barriers that existed for services such as ChatGPT, which still require an internet connection, are expected to disappear. Hence, AI-based apps on PCs could one day be run offline. Such a capability is also one of the most eagerly awaited features among PC users this year.

Surging Development of LLMs Worldwide Has Led to a Massive Increase in AI Server Shipments

AI-enabled applications are not limited to PCs and smartphones. For example, an increasing number of cloud companies have started providing services that leverage AI in various domains, including passenger cars, household appliances, home security devices, wearable devices, headphones, cameras, speakers, TVs, etc. These services often involve processing voice commands and answering questions using technologies like ChatGPT. Going forward, AI-enabled applications will become ubiquitous in people’s daily lives.

Not to be overlooked is the fact that, as countries and multinational enterprises continue to develop their large language models (LLMs), the demand for AI servers will increase and thus promote overall market growth. Furthermore, edge AI servers are expected to become a major growth contributor in the future as well. Small-sized businesses are more likely to use LLMs that are more modest in scale for various applications. Therefore, they are more likely to consider adopting lower-priced AI chips that also offer excellent cost-to-performance ratios.

TrendForce projects that shipments of AI servers, including models equipped with GPUs, FPGAs, and ASICs, will reach 1.655 million units in 2024, marking a growth of 40.2% compared with the 2023 figure. Furthermore, the share of AI servers in the overall server shipments for 2024 is projected to surpass 12%.

Regarding the development of AI chips in the current year of 2024, the focus is on the competition among the B100, MI300, and Gaudi series respectively released by NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel. Apart from these chips, another significant highlight of this year is the emergence of in-house designed chips or ASICs from cloud service providers.

In addition to AI chips, the development of AI on PCs and smartphones is certainly another major driving force behind the technology sector in 2024. In the market for CPUs used in AI PCs, Intel’s Core Ultra series and AMD’s Ryzen 8000G series are expected to make a notable impact. The Snapdragon X Elite from Qualcomm has also garnered significant attention as it could potentially alter the competitive landscape in the near future.

Turning to the market for SoCs used in AI smartphones, the fierce competition between Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and MediaTek’s Dimensity 9300 series is a key indicator. Another development that warrants attention is the adoption of AI chips in automotive hardware, such as infotainment systems and advanced driver assistance systems. The automotive market is undoubtedly one of the main battlegrounds among chip suppliers this year.

The supply chain in Taiwan has played a crucial role in providing the hardware that supports the advancement of AI-related technologies. When looking at various sections of the AI ecosystem, including chip manufacturing as well as the supply chains for AI servers and AI PCs, Taiwan-based companies have been important contributors.

Taiwan-based Companies in the Supply Chain Stand Ready for the Coming Wave of AI-related Demand

In the upstream of the supply chain, semiconductor foundries and OSAT providers such as TSMC, UMC, and ASE have always been key suppliers. As for ODMs or OEMs, companies including Wistron, Wiwynn, Inventec, Quanta, Gigabyte, Supermicro, and Foxconn Industrial Internet have become major participants in the supply chains for AI servers and AI PCs.

In terms of components, AI servers are notable for having a power supply requirement that is 2-3 times greater than that of general-purpose servers. The power supply units used in AI servers are also required to offer specification and performance upgrades. Turning to AI PCs, they also have higher demands for both computing power and energy consumption. Therefore, advances in the technologies related to power supply units represent a significant indicator this year with respect to the overall development of AI servers and AI PCs. Companies including Delta Electronics, LITE-ON, AcBel Polytech, CWT, and Chicony are expected to make important contributions to the upgrading and provisioning of power supply units.

Also, as computing power increases, heat dissipation has become a pressing concern for hardware manufacturers looking to further enhance their products. The advancements in heat dissipation made by solution providers such as Sunon, Auras, AVC, and FCN during this year will be particularly noteworthy.

Besides the aforementioned companies, Taiwan is also home to numerous suppliers for other key components related to AI PCs. The table below lists notable component providers operating on the island.

With the advent of generative AI, the technology sector is poised for a boom across its various domains. From AI PCs to AI smartphones and a wide range of smart devices, this year’s market for electronics-related technologies is characterized by diversity and innovation. Taiwan’s supply chain plays a vital role in the development of AI PCs and AI servers, including chips, components, and entire computing systems. As competition intensifies in the realm of LLMs and AI chips, this entire market is expected to encounter more challenges and opportunities.

Join the AI grand event at Computex 2024, alongside CEOs from AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, and ARM. Discover more about this expo! https://bit.ly/44Gm0pK

(Photo credit: Qualcomm)

The U.S. government has reportedly revoked the licenses of Intel and Qualcomm to supply semiconductor chips used in laptops and handsets to Huawei. According to Reuters citing sources, some companies received notices on May 7th, and the revocation of the licenses took immediate effect.

In April, Huawei unveiled its first AI-supported laptop, the MateBook X Pro, equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor. This announcement drew criticism from Republican lawmakers in the United States, who argued that the Commerce Department allowed Intel to export chips to Huawei. Notably, the sources cited in a report by Reuters on March 12th once stated that Intel’s competitor, AMD, had applied for a similar license to sell comparable chips in early 2021 but did not receive approval from the US Department of Commerce.

In response to the matter surrounding Intel and Huawei, the Commerce Department confirmed the revocation of some export licenses to Huawei but declined to provide further details. Still, revoking the licenses not only damages Huawei but may also impact U.S. suppliers with business relationships with the company.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Qualcomm, which obtained a license in 2020, has been selling older 4G networking chips to Huawei, but the company expects its business to gradually decrease next year.

Another report from Reuters also indicated that Qualcomm continues to license its 5G technology portfolio to Huawei, allowing the latter to use HiSilicon’s 5G chips since last year, raising concerns of violating U.S. sanctions. Additionally, according to the same report, documents submitted by Qualcomm this month indicated that its patent agreement with Huawei will expire in the fiscal year 2025, which is earlier than expected, thus prompting negotiations for renewal agreements to begin sooner. Qualcomm has not responded to these reports.

Due to concerns over potential espionage activities by Huawei, the White House included Huawei in the trade restriction list in 2019, which requires suppliers to apply for licenses before shipping goods to blacklisted companies. However, despite this, Huawei suppliers still obtained licenses worth billions of USD to sell goods and technology to the Chinese tech giant, including allowing Intel to sell CPUs starting in 2020.

Republican Representative Elise Stefanik believes that revoking the licenses will strengthen U.S. national security, protect U.S. intellectual property rights, and thus weaken the technological advancement capabilities of communist China.

Previously, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo pointed out that the new chips introduced by Huawei are not as capable and lag behind U.S. chips by several years in performance, indicating that U.S. export controls on China are effective.

Read more

• [News] US Considers Sanctioning Huawei-Linked Chinese Chip Network, Huawei-Related Enterprises Blacklisted
• [News] U.S. Department of Commerce Claims Huawei Chips Not as Advanced, Lag Behind U.S. Chips by Several Years
• [News] Bypassing U.S. Restrictions? CXMT Showcases GAA Technology for 3nm Chips

(Photo credit: iStock)