With the first desktop processors to integrate a dedicated AI inference engine and dramatically better graphics, AMD hopes to give PC enthusiasts a reason to upgrade.
The new Ara2 neural-processor unit (NPU) from Kinara, which means edge in Hindi, provides an 8× increase in performance over the first-generation chip and can run large language workloads.
Intel, TSMC, and Samsung all presented papers on complementary transistors (CFETs) at the 2023 International Electron Devices Meeting. The results were successful enough that CFETs now have a place on the industry’s technology roadmap.
TechInsights has forecast a doubling of semiconductor sales over the next decade. Some of the dynamics playing out in processors and memory may impact that forecast.
Intel’s Meteor Lake processor has yielded 11 laptop models. They feature fewer threads than prior families but include a new lower-power efficiency core.
The year 2023 saw the data-center AI chip market reach a new height—Nvidia attained a trillion-dollar valuation. Other vendors, including hyperscalers, marched forward with the next version of their chips.
In 2023, communications-infrastructure chips overshadowed smartphone processors as access to the internet—at the user end and at the center—received some necessary attention.
AMD’s MI300 accelerator series uses the latest in advanced packaging from TSMC, with a three-layer die stack using the largest interposer seen to date.
TechInsights looks at the world’s first 3 nm products. Apple’s A17 chip from the iPhone 15 employs TSMC’s FinFET process, and Samsung quietly released their first gate-all-around nanosheet chip in the WhatsMiner cryptocurrency rig.
Aspinity’s AML100 always-on inference chip uses analog circuits to reduce power. The company has taken a unique approach to taming the effects of process and environmental variation.
AMD is targeting the data-center AI acceleration market with its MI300X accelerator. The 3D chiplet is based on CDNA3 architecture and offers up to 2 PetaOPS INT8 performance.
As we prepare to enter 2024, we make predictions involving CPUs, AI, memory, and more. The year will be notable both for what might not happen and for what will.