Taipei, January 18 (CNA) U.S.-based artificial intelligence chip design company Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) have partnered to develop silicon photonics, the company’s founder and chief executive officer said. (CEO) Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) made this announcement. American AI giant.
After meeting with TSMC Chairman CC Wei (Wei Zhejia) in Taipei on Friday, Huang told reporters that the company is cooperating with the world’s largest contract chip maker in the silicon photonics field, but that this cooperation will soon be announced. He said it was unlikely to result in any consequences, and acknowledged both sides’ positions. It still took several years to achieve concrete results.
To participate in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and Taiwan-based IC packaging and test service provider ASE Technology Holding Co. have joined the Silicon Photonics Industry Alliance (SiPhIA), which is comprised of more than 30 Taiwanese companies. was organized.
Silicon photonics is known as the application of photonic systems using silicon as an optical transmission medium, and has promising characteristics such as low power consumption, long-distance transmission, and low cost.
With the rapid growth of AI applications, the focus is now on finding ways to reduce energy consumption.
Mr. Huang thanked all TSMC employees for their support of Nvidia, saying that the company was able to significantly increase productivity amid the high demand for AI applications.
In addition to TSMC, Huang also visited several of Nvidia’s business partners in Taiwan.
During the visit, Huang said that due to strong global demand for Nvidia’s advanced Grace and Blackwell graphics processing units (GPUs), these Taiwanese companies have provided approximately 45 factories to support their company. He also thanked his partners.
He expressed his gratitude by naming NVIDIA’s partners, including AI server manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industries, Quanta Computer, Wistron, cloud-enabled service provider Wiwin, and AI graphics card vendor Gigabyte Technology and IC. did. Packaging and testing service provider Siliconware Precision Industries Co. (SPIL) and PC component manufacturer Cooler Master Co.
Huang said Nvidia has developed GPU and AI applications, laying a new foundation for future computer development, and said the AI industry will continue to grow as AI will enable machines to learn 24 hours a day to help humans. He said he believes that it will become the mainstream of industrial development around the world.
He added that this is just the beginning of the AI era, which he expects to bring business opportunities worth trillions of dollars.
He added that Nvidia needs to grow quickly to meet this trend, but it would be impossible for his company to grow without these Taiwanese partners who are “working around the clock.” .
Huang attended the opening ceremony of SPIL’s new factory in Taichung Danzi Technology Industrial Park in central Taiwan on Thursday.
Huang said that SPIL, a wholly owned subsidiary of ASE Technology, the world’s largest IC packaging and test service provider, is NVIDIA’s important long-term backend IC packaging and test partner in AI-related GPU and robotics development. He said there is.
He said that the scale of cooperation between NVIDIA and SPIL has grown tenfold compared to a decade ago, and that from 2024, NVIDIA and SPIL will have 200 % increase and mentioned 3D chips. On-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) IC packaging services used for manufacturing AI chips.
While Nvidia is moving from single-die CoWoS technology (CoWoS-S) to the more advanced dual-die CoWoS technology (CoWoS-L) in the production of Blackwell CPUs, the company plans to continue using CoWoS-S in the production of Hopper GPUs. Mr. Huang said.
Huang added that overall orders for CoWoS services from the company are expected to increase significantly this year, although they will not decrease.
According to industry sources, Huang’s visit to SPIL was aimed at securing production for CoWoS. With the company’s CoWoS service receiving certification, SPIL is expected to gradually increase production from the second quarter of this year, the officials added.
Huang said he planned to meet with representatives of other Taiwanese suppliers on Saturday, but did not elaborate.
Meanwhile, Huang said NVIDIA is still looking for a location in Taiwan to build its headquarters outside the United States, as the company is growing and needs a larger base of operations.
