NVIDIA and TSMC jointly demonstrate silicon photonics technology, Samsung actively enters and hopes to seize business opportunities
TechNewsTechnology News
December 18, 2024
Author Lin Yurou
December 18, 2024
Author Lin Yurou
NVIDIA demonstrated AI GPU technology at IEDM 2024, the global semiconductor leadership conference in the United States, and mentioned that silicon photonics technology will help chip-to-chip connections in AI data centers in the medium and long term. This statement has caused great concern in the semiconductor industry, highlighting the potential of silicon photonics technology to promote AI technology.
During the conference, NVIDIA displayed a silicon photonics prototype developed in cooperation with TSMC, showing the strong cooperative relationship between the two companies in next-generation AI semiconductor technology; TSMC also published a number of silicon photonics-related papers to introduce silicon photonics manufacturing technology in detail. The core idea proposed by TSMC is to make two advanced devices and join them as a single wafer using SoIC's hybrid bonding technology.
Industry insiders believe that this technology is hundreds of times faster than existing methods of moving data through metals such as copper. For data-intensive applications (such as AI data centers), efficient data transmission is more important.
The cooperation between NVIDIA and TSMC in the field of silicon photonics highlights the strong alliance between top wafer foundries and fabless foundries. Korean media pointed out that attention will be paid to whether Samsung Electronics' wafer foundry department, which lags behind TSMC, can catch up through technical cooperation with customers.
According to reports, Samsung wafer foundry is also targeting silicon photonics business opportunities. Intel, Samsung's biggest competitor in wafer foundry, has entered the field of photonic technology one step ahead. In order to surpass it in one fell swoop, it is expected that Samsung may first develop this market. Samsung Electronics' Semiconductor (DS) Division has named its silicon photonics processes "I-CubeSo" and "I-CubeEo" and is actively developing products.
Senior executives of Samsung Semiconductor Research Institute recently mentioned in a university lecture that they are rapidly advancing silicon photonics research and development with customers and actively conducting internal related research. In addition to NVIDIA, outgoing customers include Broadcom and Marvell, both of which are interested in silicon photonics technology.
Silicon photonics is an optical semiconductor technology that helps various semiconductors in electronic devices communicate using photons instead of electrons. Silicon photonics offer significantly higher speeds and lower power consumption than traditional electrical connections, which is particularly important for data-intensive applications such as AI and data centers. TSMC has assigned more than 200 employees specifically to silicon photonics, underscoring their commitment to advancing the technology.
Related links: https://technews.tw/2024/12/18/nvidia-and-tsmc-silicon-photonics/
Image source: Intel
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