Hot Chips 2024: AI Hype Booms, But Can Nvidia’s Challengers Succeed?

Hot Chips 2024: AI Hype Booms, But Can Nvidia’s Challengers Succeed?
by Joseph Byrne on 09-09-2024 at 10:00 am

NVLink switch tray top view open black

You don’t know you’re at a peak until you start to descend, and Hot Chips 2024 is proof that AI hype is still climbing among semiconductor vendors. Juggernaut Nvidia, startups, hyperscalers, and major companies presented their AI accelerators (GPUs and neural-processing units—NPUs) and touched on the challenges of software,… Read More


Nvidia Pulled out of the Black Well

Nvidia Pulled out of the Black Well
by Claus Aasholm on 09-03-2024 at 6:00 am

Nvidia Pulled the Quarter out of the Well

Despite a severe setback, Nvidia pulled it off once again

There have been serious concerns about the ROI on AI and yield problems with Blackwell, but Nvidia pulled it off again and delivered a result significantly above guidance.

Beating the revenue guidance of $28B with 2B$ to just above 30B$, representing 15% QoQ and a 122% YoY … Read More


Circuit Simulation Update from Empyrean at #61DAC

Circuit Simulation Update from Empyrean at #61DAC
by Daniel Payne on 08-13-2024 at 10:00 am

Empyrean SPICE min

A familiar face in EDA, Greg Lebsack met with me in the Empyrean booth at DAC this year on opening day to provide an update on what’s new. I first met Greg when he was at Tanner EDA, then Mentor and Siemens EDA, so he really knows our industry quite well. The company was a Silver level sponsor of DAC this year, and Empyrean offers tools for… Read More


A Post-AI-ROI-Panic Overview of the Data Center Processing Market

A Post-AI-ROI-Panic Overview of the Data Center Processing Market
by Claus Aasholm on 08-11-2024 at 8:00 am

Datacenter Supply Chain 2024

With all the Q2-24 results delivered, it is time to remove the clouds of euphoria and panic, ignore the performance claims and the bugs, and analyse the Data Center business, including examining the supply chain up and downstream. It is time to find out if the AI boom in semiconductors is still alive.

We begin the analysis with the … Read More


TSMC’s Business Update and Launch of a New Strategy

TSMC’s Business Update and Launch of a New Strategy
by Claus Aasholm on 07-30-2024 at 10:00 am

TSMC Fab Utilization 2024

What looks like a modest market expansion strategy is all but modest.

Insights into the Semiconductor Industry and the Semiconductor Supply Chain.

As usual, when TSMC reports, the Semiconductor industry gets a spray of insights that help understand what goes on in other areas of the industry. This time, TSMC gave more insight … Read More


TSMC Foundry 2.0 and Intel IDM 2.0

TSMC Foundry 2.0 and Intel IDM 2.0
by Daniel Nenni on 07-22-2024 at 10:00 am

TSMC 2Q2024 Investor Call

When Intel entered the foundry business with IDM 2.0 I was impressed. Yes, Intel had tried the foundry business before but this time they changed the face of the company with IDM 2.0 and went “all-in” so to speak. The progress has been impressive and today I think Intel is well positioned to capture the NOT TSMC business by providing… Read More


Will Semiconductor earnings live up to the Investor hype?

Will Semiconductor earnings live up to the Investor hype?
by Claus Aasholm on 07-10-2024 at 10:00 am

NVIDIA Fastest Growing Semiconductor company

The state of the Semiconductor Industry before the earnings season. This post will give the industry’s status before the results are revealed. We are sharing the information available.

The first Q2 swallows
A few companies with quarters not aligned to calendar quarters have reported. Nvidia was slightly ahead of expectations,… Read More


Podcast EP229: A Detailed Look at the DAC Engineering Track with Ambar Sarkar

Podcast EP229: A Detailed Look at the DAC Engineering Track with Ambar Sarkar
by Daniel Nenni on 06-21-2024 at 6:00 pm

Dan is joined by Dr. Ambar Sarkar, a member of the Design Automation Conference executive committee and the program chair of the Engineering Tracks. He has a broad background covering both software and hardware R&D. He has contributed to industry standards in areas such as functional verification and IP security. He is the… Read More


Blank Wafer Suppliers are not Totally Blank

Blank Wafer Suppliers are not Totally Blank
by Claus Aasholm on 06-09-2024 at 8:00 am

Sand to Semiconductors

AI requires more Silicon capacity
Deep in the supply chain, some wizards turn sand into perfect diamond-structured crystal disks of silicon, which are necessary for the entire semiconductor supply chain.

They are part of the semiconductor supply chain, making Silicon Sand almost a thousand times more valuable.

The glimmer … Read More


What’s all the Noise in the AI Basement?

What’s all the Noise in the AI Basement?
by Claus Aasholm on 06-05-2024 at 8:00 am

Nvidia is HUGE 2024

My dog yawns every time I say Semiconductor or Semiconductor Supply Chain. Most clients say, “Yawn…. Don’t pontificate – pick the Nasdaq winners for us!”

Will Nvidia be overtaken by the new AI players?

If you follow along with me, you might gain some insights into what is happening in AI hardware. I will leave others to do the… Read More