TLDR: Moore’s law is dead and we are on the cusp of a new paradigm, Heterogeneous compute. Some are calling it a Renaissance, and through specialization and new processes we are in a new era for semis
How will manufacturers get around the R&D cost of fabricating specialized chips for every application? The reason chips are cheap is because they are general use. That has to save on R&D costs. Either way, one of the best articles I have read in a while. Clear, and to the point. Made very good sense.
most of the times you can point to an ROI that makes sense. they are definitely not going to be making asics for sub 1 million unit products. that being said products like airpods are actually really good representations of hetcompute, there are quite a few specialized chips, and specialization is what helps their battery life work. The pro for example has a small custom system in package in the ear to be able to do noise canceling with very minimal amount of energy and space.
No, you are right. That makes perfect sense. I do remember when asics took over Bitcoin. I was mining with GPU back then. Seems like 2010 or 2011. Imagine the possibilities with hetcompute when coupled with something like Nvidia's new EGX system. Being able to use small asics to do a very specific task, and then use EGX to infer the data. You know, do the heavy lifting off site with the help of low latency with 5G. Hmmm maybe this is what the "IOT" is about. Very interesting. I'm going to continue to follow your articles.
IoT in PRACTICE is going to be 100% heavy lifted by things like this. HetCompute is going to be bringing the right tool to every job, which means a lot of use cases we didn't think we could do before.
i am structurally bullish semicap - as intensity at leading edge has moved higher. The price on ASML is another question - but their franchise is one of the most durable and valuable in the entire world. Hard to replicate that asset.
Going through old posts first and had a question. Apologize if it is redundant.
Stupid/Basic question: how do fabless companies test their in-development products; i.e. do they have software similar to something like autodesk?
they use software called EDA - aka Synposis and Cadence
How will manufacturers get around the R&D cost of fabricating specialized chips for every application? The reason chips are cheap is because they are general use. That has to save on R&D costs. Either way, one of the best articles I have read in a while. Clear, and to the point. Made very good sense.
most of the times you can point to an ROI that makes sense. they are definitely not going to be making asics for sub 1 million unit products. that being said products like airpods are actually really good representations of hetcompute, there are quite a few specialized chips, and specialization is what helps their battery life work. The pro for example has a small custom system in package in the ear to be able to do noise canceling with very minimal amount of energy and space.
No, you are right. That makes perfect sense. I do remember when asics took over Bitcoin. I was mining with GPU back then. Seems like 2010 or 2011. Imagine the possibilities with hetcompute when coupled with something like Nvidia's new EGX system. Being able to use small asics to do a very specific task, and then use EGX to infer the data. You know, do the heavy lifting off site with the help of low latency with 5G. Hmmm maybe this is what the "IOT" is about. Very interesting. I'm going to continue to follow your articles.
IoT in PRACTICE is going to be 100% heavy lifted by things like this. HetCompute is going to be bringing the right tool to every job, which means a lot of use cases we didn't think we could do before.
Thoughts on ASML and the work they're doing with EUV lithography? Logic at 7nm and should reach 170wph
i am structurally bullish semicap - as intensity at leading edge has moved higher. The price on ASML is another question - but their franchise is one of the most durable and valuable in the entire world. Hard to replicate that asset.