The hottest Semiconductor industry Substack posts right now

The newsletter focuses heavily on the semiconductor industry and provides analysis based on public information and independent research.
The author reflects on biases and encourages readers to form their opinions after reviewing the presented information.
Jensen Huang from GTC 2024 Keynote introduces impressive innovations in the semiconductor field, like the RAS technology monitoring system and advancements in hardware design.

Industrial semiconductor demand is weakening, while smartphones and PCs are at a good point in the cycle.
Chinese industrial production is down, solar is weakening, and EV inventories are rising.
Semiconductors in different end markets have varying cyclicality, with automotive and industrial segments remaining more stable.

The semiconductor industry is entering a new growth cycle driven by the rise of AI tools and applications, with the next wave of growth expected to come from AI hardware.
To overcome challenges in traditional chip scaling, the industry is adopting chiplet-based architectures and heterogeneously integrated packaging approaches for continued performance scaling.
Advanced packaging technologies play a crucial role in supporting high-performance compute devices for AI systems, with companies like Saras exploring innovative solutions like embedded capacitive module technology for improved power delivery.

Semiconductor chips are critical to global supply chains and geopolitical tensions, with the US intensifying efforts to boost domestic manufacturing while imposing sanctions on China.
China is significantly increasing imports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to fortify its chip industry, even amidst trade disputes and sanctions.
Despite efforts to restrict China's access to advanced chips and equipment, there are challenges faced by the US in fully controlling the semiconductor trade and maintaining successful sanctions.

VLIW architectures are unique computer architectures with benefits like low power consumption, low latency, and area efficiency, but they come with a significant challenge for compilers, often requiring manual assembly coding by experts.
Historically, VLIW architectures have a long and colorful history dating back to the early 1980s, including examples like Intel Itanium, Movidius/Intel, Xilinx/AMD, Qualcomm Hexagon, Google TPU, and Texas Instruments VelociTI, each with varying degrees of success and challenges.
Groq, a company leveraging VLIW architecture, demonstrates the ongoing struggle with VLIW compilers, as highlighted through their efforts to optimize performance for a specific model, showcasing the complexities and limitations associated with 144-wide VLIW architecture.

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Softbank's Masayoshi Son plans to build an AI chip company to compete with Nvidia and other giants in the industry.
The project named 'Project Izanagi' aims to leverage Arm design and raise a staggering $100 billion, with $30 billion coming from Softbank and potential $70 billion from Middle Eastern institutions.
Venture capitalists like Son see the potential for AI chips to drive artificial general intelligence development, with a goal of surpassing human intelligence.