In today's development of artificial intelligence (AI), the speed of data transmission has become a significant bottleneck hindering its progress. To break through this barrier, a research team led by the University of Michigan (U-M) is developing a brand new chip connection system that uses optical waves instead of traditional cables for data transmission. This innovation is expected to address the 'memory wall' problem that limits computational speed and promote further growth of AI models. The project has received a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation's Future Semiconductor program, with participation from the University of Washington and Penn State.

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, the investment boom in AI chip manufacturers has gradually intensified. Among them, Blaize has attracted wide attention in the market. Founded by a former Intel engineer, the company announced its plan to go public on NASDAQ through a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) on January 14, 2025. Blaize was established in 2011 and is headquartered in El Dorado Hills, California. To date, it has raised $335 million in investments, primarily from Samsung and Mercedes.

Nvidia's stock fell over 6% on Tuesday, a decline that occurred the day after the company announced its next-generation AI chips, following a record high in stock price. This drop is partly attributed to a broader sell-off of tech stocks due to soaring U.S. Treasury yields. Nevertheless, Nvidia continues to be recognized as the strongest performer among the so-called 'Super Seven Giants', with a stock price increase of 185% over the past year and more than 900% over the past two years. As artificial intelligence continues to thrive, Nvidia has become the biggest beneficiary.

At the recent CES conference, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang stated that the performance improvement speed of the company's AI chips has surpassed the historical standards set by Moore's Law. Moore's Law, proposed by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965, predicted that the number of transistors on a computer chip would approximately double every year, consequently doubling chip performance as well. However, in recent years, the pace of progress of Moore's Law has significantly slowed. Image source note: The image was generated by AI, image licensed by Midjourney.

In 2024, NVIDIA significantly increased its efforts in venture capital, investing as much as $1 billion across 50 different funding rounds and several corporate acquisitions. This figure marks a substantial rise from $872 million and 39 funding rounds in 2023. After profiting $9 billion from AI chip sales, NVIDIA is concentrating resources on 'core AI' companies that require substantial computing power, many of which are also NVIDIA's clients. The investment list for 2024 includes some well-known companies.

The Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence (BAAI) recently announced that it has collaborated with ecological partners to build and open source the Heterogeneous Unified Communication Library FlagCX, aiming to address the challenges faced by communication libraries in the era of diverse computing power and fill the significant gap in the open source software stack for diverse computing power. This initiative responds to the special action organized by relevant national departments for the governance of typical issues in 'Clear and Bright: Algorithmic Problems of Online Platforms', reflecting the important principles of correct algorithm orientation, fairness and justice, and transparency.

OpenAI's latest release of the Realtime Embedded SDK has stirred the industry, providing a development toolkit aimed at microcontrollers that advances the integration of artificial intelligence with miniature hardware. This SDK is specifically designed for microcontrollers like the ESP32 and enables real-time interaction between devices and cloud-based AI models through WiFi, significantly lowering the technical barriers to smart hardware development. This news quickly triggered a ripple effect in the market, leading to an increase in prices for ESP32-related hardware, including modules, chips, and accessories.

Recently, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology officially issued several measures to build Shenzhen into a pioneer city for artificial intelligence, aimed at promoting the application and development of the AI industry. With an annual investment of up to 300 million yuan, the focus is on cutting-edge areas such as the mathematical principles of AI, infrastructure, core algorithms, as well as embodied intelligence, autonomous driving, and AI chips, to carry out fundamental research and tackle technological challenges. Among them, for demonstration application projects with promotional value, the city will provide subsidies of up to 30% based on the actual investment of the project construction entities, with a maximum limit.

In a recent earnings call, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan shared an optimistic outlook for the future AI chip market, predicting that the company’s revenue in this area will see significant growth by 2027. According to him, the serviceable addressable market (SAM) for Broadcom's AI-related products and network services is expected to be between $60 billion and $90 billion. Tan also revealed that Broadcom is currently collaborating with three major hyperscale customers.

Apple is quietly laying the groundwork for the 'heart' of artificial intelligence—server chips. According to The Information, citing three informed sources, Apple is collaborating with semiconductor giant Broadcom to secretly develop its first server chip specifically designed for handling AI applications. This move indicates that Apple's ambitions in the field of artificial intelligence are rapidly expanding. Renowned for its self-designed chips, Apple’s 'Apple Silicon' series is primarily manufactured by TSMC and is widely used in iP

Tao Lin, Vice President of Tesla, issued a statement today reiterating the company's commitment to the development path of autonomous driving technology. Lin mentioned that several years ago, company founder Elon Musk determined that only through pure vision technology can we achieve safer and smarter fully autonomous driving. She explained that because existing road and traffic rules are designed based on human vision, the combination of cameras, visual neural networks, and autonomous driving hardware can best mimic human observation, perception, and decision-making habits, potentially reaching or even surpassing human driving capabilities.

Recently, Marvell Technology's market capitalization briefly exceeded $100 billion, marking the rise of this small chipmaker in the tech sector. Since 2016, CEO Matt Murphy has led the company to significant success in the rapidly growing data center chip market. Murphy stated that he did not want to take over a chip company ten times the size of his own, as this choice is not only smarter but also appears more ambitious.

The Japanese government is vigorously advancing its strategic layout for the chip and artificial intelligence industries. This fiscal year, the government will allocate an additional 1.5 trillion yen (approximately $9.9 billion) in a special budget targeting cutting-edge technology fields such as next-generation chips and quantum computers. This budget is divided into two important parts: 1.05 trillion yen will be used for the research and development of next-generation chips and quantum computers, while 471.4 billion yen will focus on supporting domestic advanced chip production. Notably, the 'moon landing plan' of Rapidus is drawing attention, although details are still pending.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is fully committed to pursuing AI chips to support his new supercomputer, a move that has already pushed Nvidia's production capacity to its limits. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, a sales executive at Nvidia mentioned in an internal email that Musk's demand for their chips is putting pressure on the company's supply chain. An Nvidia spokesperson stated, 'We are working hard to meet all customer demands and have significantly increased the available supply.' Image source note: Image generated by AI.