Daily: Cisco’s new networking chip competes with Broadcom
5 min read.
Highlights
Cisco’s new networking chip competes with Broadcom. Cisco looks to launch their own chip and networking system designed to connect AI data centres across great distances. Broadcom released a similar networking chip in early August. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang famously says that the ‘data centre is the new unit of compute.’ Linking up data centres is one step towards that vision. One of Nvidia’s great advantages is that they have high capacity to connect their chips through their NVLink technology. Nvidia looked to cement this lead by acquiring Enfabrica, a startup that envisions linking together over 100,000 GPUs as well as faster networking between memory and logic.
Samsung to supply HBM4 to AMD. Samsung will reportedly supply the next generation of memory chips, the HBM4, to AMD, continuing a history of collaboration between the two chipmakers. AMD currently uses the HBM3E from Samsung and Micron in their GPUs. This follows the good news for both Samsung and AMD, who recently inked deals with OpenAI.
Graphcore expands into India. SoftBank backed AI chip designer Graphcore is investing US$1.3 billion in India, including a new research hub. This is the confluence of several trends: 1) SoftBank leader Masayoshi Son’s desire to own and develop more of the semiconductor value chain, 2) India’s push to develop a domestic semiconductor industry, and 3) UK’s push to develop its own semiconductor industry. The news comes as UK PM Keir Starmer visits India.
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1. Policy and Geopolitics
1.1
Bloomberg (10/09): Chinese Units of US Chip Firm Sanctioned Over Ties to Iran
The US government sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies.
The Commerce Department included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc. on its so-called entity list published on the federal register on Wednesday for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of American tech. It is rare to see US-listed firms on that blacklist.
Arrow spokesperson John Hourigan said these subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security about the listings. These two units are respectively located in China and Hong Kong, according to the latest entity list.
2. Economy, Finance, and Business
2.1
Bloomberg (10/09): SoftBank’s Graphcore Plans $1.3 Billion Chip Investment in India
Graphcore, the British chip designer owned by SoftBank Group Corp., is planning to announce a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) investment package in India that includes a new research hub.
The announcement is scheduled as part of a delegation of UK businesses joining Prime Minister Keir Starmer on a trip to India this week, people familiar with the plans said. Graphcore, which is based in Bristol, plans to open the research facility in Bengaluru and share plans to hire as many as 500 people over the next five years, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.
Graphcore began as a promising potential rival to Nvidia Corp., designing specialized chips meant to develop artificial intelligence services. Investors gave the startup a valuation of $2.8 billion in 2020, but Graphcore struggled to find commercial traction.
2.2
Nikkei (10/08): US chip plant investment to outpace China, Taiwan and South Korea from 2027
U.S. semiconductor investment is set to outpace that of major chip economies China, Taiwan and South Korea from 2027 amid a boom in AI demand and Washington’s push to localize production, a SEMI forecast showed.
2.3
Bloomberg (10/08): Japan’s Second Biggest IPO This Year Priced at Top of Range
Semiconductor material maker Tekscend Photomask Corp. priced its initial public offering at the upper end of the range on Wednesday in this year’s second-biggest listing in Japan.
The shares were sold at ¥3,000 apiece, according to a regulatory filing, after they had been marketed at ¥2,900 to ¥3,000 each.
Printing firm Toppan Holdings Inc. carved out Tekscend — previously called Toppan Photomask Co. — in 2022, with private equity firm Integral Corp. buying a 49.9% stake.
3. Technology
3.1
Bloomberg (10/08): Cisco Seeks to Challenge Broadcom in Connecting AI Data Centers
Cisco Systems Inc. is releasing a new chip and networking system meant to connect AI data centers across hundreds of miles, a move that escalates competition with Broadcom Inc.
The Silicon One P200 chip and 8223 routing systems allow for faster transfers of data across long-haul optic cables, the company announced on Wednesday. The components are also much smaller than the previous version, Martin Lund, executive vice president of the company’s common hardware group, said in an interview.
Broadcom has taken a similar approach with its products. That company unveiled its latest Jericho networking chip in August, saying it would move larger volumes of data and be ideal for handling AI work across multiple locations.
3.2
TrendForce (10/08): Samsung Reportedly to Supply HBM4 for AMD MI450 in OpenAI Deal, Taking On NVIDIA–SK hynix
Samsung Electronics is set to supply the crucial HBM4 memory to AMD, marking a significant shift in the global AI semiconductor landscape that had long centered around NVIDIA and SK hynix.
Samsung and AMD have a history of collaboration dating back to the MI350X and MI355X chips. According to Commercial Times and SeDaily, both chips—built on TSMC’s N3P process—feature 12-high HBM3e from Samsung and Micron.
3.3
NYT (10/08): Why Diamonds Are a Computer Chip’s New Best Friend
Data centers squander vast amounts of electricity, most of it as heat. The physical properties of diamond offer a potential solution, researchers say.
With tech companies racing to build more data centers housing servers that run the latest A.I. models, the amount of electricity these facilities consume is skyrocketing. But most of that electricity doesn’t power computing at all. It is squandered in the crudest way: as heat, spilling out of every one of the hundreds of billions of transistors in a modern chip.
“The dirty secret in chips is that more than half of all energy is wasted as leakage current at the transistor level,” said R. Martin Roscheisen, an electrical engineer and entrepreneur at Diamond Foundry, a company in South San Francisco that manufactures specialized diamonds for use in electronics.
Mr. Roscheisen is one of many engineers developing ways to embed tiny pieces of synthetic diamond, of all things, into chips to keep them cool. Diamond, in addition to being the hardest known material, is also exceptionally good at moving heat from place to place.
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