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Tuesday 24 December 2024
China-Taiwan trade recovers despite military tensions and tech war
Despite the recent military maneuvers by China's navy and coast guard that threaten Taiwan's security, as well as challenges within China such as a struggling real estate market, US technological sanctions, and supply chain restructuring, the Mainland Affairs Council reports that cross-strait trade is steadily recovering.
Tuesday 24 December 2024
Nvidia shifts to ethernet for next-gen AI clusters
The networking landscape for AI clusters is undergoing a significant transformation as Ethernet emerges as a viable alternative to traditional interconnect technologies. While Nvidia's proprietary interconnect technology currently offers the lowest latency for AI workloads, the industry is increasingly exploring more cost-effective networking solutions that can support growing AI deployments.
Tuesday 24 December 2024
Indonesia seeks closer ties with Elon Musk: propose data center collaboration after battery factory setback
With the upcoming Trump administration, the Indonesian government is working to deepen its ties with Elon Musk, who maintains close connections with the president-elect and is expected to play a key role in the transition.
Tuesday 24 December 2024
Wistron expands global footprint: new investments in US, Vietnam, and India
In a strategic move to strengthen its global presence, Wistron's board of directors approved several overseas investment projects on December 20, 2024, including a major renovation of its Texas facility in the US, the construction of a new factory in Vietnam, and additional capital investment in India.
Monday 23 December 2024
Nvidia resolves GB200 challenges, gears up for AI dominance in 2025
Nvidia has overcome production hurdles for its highly anticipated Blackwell chip, with CEO Jensen Huang confirming the resolution of design flaws in collaboration with TSMC. Shipments are now set to begin in the fourth quarter of 2024, with a full ramp-up by the first quarter of 2025. Despite recent thermal management challenges in the GB200 Rack system, impacting shipment capacity, the supply chain confirms these issues have been resolved, ensuring smooth production.
Monday 23 December 2024
SK Hynix unveils 61TB SSD, challenging Samsung in AI data center market
Amid surging AI demand, SK Hynix has unveiled a 61TB SSD tailored for AI data centers, marking a significant leap in the enterprise SSD (eSSD) market and intensifying competition with industry leader Samsung Electronics.
Monday 23 December 2024
Asus sees 2nd-highest profit ever in 2024
Asustek Computer is on track to achieve its second-highest profit ever in 2024, driven by sustained growth in notebook and motherboard sales combined with a strong AI PC market share, according to chairman Jonney Shih at the company's recent year-end banquet.
Friday 20 December 2024
Foxconn quashes delay rumors: GB200 NVL72 server shipments set for 4Q24
Despite market speculations about potential delays in Nvidia's GB200 NVL72 series server shipments, industry sources confirm that Foxconn Technology (Hon Hai) is maintaining its original schedule. Initial shipments are set to begin in December 2024 as planned.
Friday 20 December 2024
Nvidia fends off rising tide of ASIC challengers in AI chip arena
Nvidia faces growing competition from ASIC chip developers, as Broadcom, Google, and AWS advance their development efforts in AI chips, according to industry sources.
Friday 20 December 2024
The US government releases first-ever quadrennial supply chain review
The White House issued what it describes as the inaugural Quadrennial Supply Chain Review on December 19, 2024, which the incumbent Biden-Harris Administration says represents its efforts to strengthen economic security and build resilient supply chains.
Thursday 19 December 2024
CDUs become new bottleneck in GB200 server mass production
Long delivery times for cooling distribution units (CDU) are reportedly why increased production of GB200 server racks has been delayed from the first quarter of 2025 to the second quarter, opening up new opportunities for Taiwanese manufacturers, according to cooling solution players.
Thursday 19 December 2024
Micron sees data center-driven record sales, but guidance disappoints
Micron Technology reported record fiscal first-quarter revenue driven by data center SSD sales, which now represent over half of total revenue. While HBM shipments doubled quarter over quarter, the company's fiscal second-quarter guidance fell below expectations due to weakening demand in non-AI segments. However, AI-driven growth prospects remain strong for fiscal 2025.
Thursday 19 December 2024
Micron is optimistic about HBM demand and AI growth despite market challenges
After revealing the latest financial results, Micron held an earnings call, discussing the recovery paces across markets. The company is optimistic about the demand for HBM as it continues to secure customers and develop HBM4.
Wednesday 18 December 2024
Advantech aims to dominate edge computing and AI markets with strategic shift
Advantech has announced its ambitious plans to establish dominance in the rapidly growing sectors of edge computing and artificial intelligence (AI). Chairman KC Liu revealed the company's strategic transition, emphasizing its dedication to leveraging the transformative power of these technologies to seize new opportunities across various industries.
Tuesday 17 December 2024
Tech giants prioritize cost-performance ratio for AI investment; Nvidia's computing clusters gain traction
US cloud service providers (CSPs) are entering a new phase of AI investment, with continued growth in capital expenditures (capex), driving short-term demand for high-end AI chips. However, the lack of clear returns on these investments means tech giants are increasingly focusing on cost-performance ratios in their AI strategies.
Tuesday 17 December 2024
China targets Nvidia as cloud firms navigate AI chip restrictions
The Chinese government has ramped up actions against Nvidia, including reopening antitrust investigations and abruptly removing all products from the company's Tmall flagship store. These measures are widely viewed as Beijing's response to recent US Department of Commerce sanctions.
Tuesday 17 December 2024
Compeq to begin mass production at new Thailand plant in 1Q25
Taiwan-based tier-1 high-density interconnect (HDI) board maker Compeq Manufacturing has opened its first production base in Southeast Asia located in Thailand. The facility will initially focus on producing printed circuit boards (PCB) for low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites with mass production set to begin in the first quarter of 2025.
Tuesday 17 December 2024
Intel's chip delays disrupts Taiwan PC and server supply chain
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger retired on December 1, 2024, leaving CFO David Zinsner and senior executive Michelle Johnston Holthaus to serve as interim co-CEOs. While the board works to identify a permanent successor, Intel faces one of the most significant crises in its history, searching for a qualified leader to navigate both internal instability and mounting external pressures increasingly challenging.
Tuesday 17 December 2024
Japan fast-tracks next-gen supercomputer development for 2030
The Japanese government has accelerated plans to develop a next-generation supercomputer by the fiscal year 2030, succeeding the renowned Supercomputer Fugaku. This ambitious project, seeking to accelerate research and development, marks a significant step forward in Japan's technological landscape.
Monday 16 December 2024
Data centers' race to cool AI drives liquid tech boom
As artificial intelligence (AI) strains data center cooling limits, a seismic shift from traditional air systems to liquid cooling solutions is reshaping the US$5 billion thermal management market, industry analysts say.
Monday 16 December 2024
South Korea's FuriosaAI takes on global AI chip race with 'RNGD'
FuriosaAI, a Seoul-based AI chip startup founded in 2017, is making waves in the AI hardware market with its innovative accelerator chips aimed at hyperscale data centers and enterprises. In August 2024, the startup unveiled its advanced AI chip, "RNGD." The chip is positioned to challenge industry leaders such as Nvidia with a 100% power efficiency advantage over Nvidia's H100 GPUs and competitive performance metrics. Furthermore, it recently gained attention for its testing and sampling progress with global enterprises like LG AI Research and Aramco.
Monday 16 December 2024
Jensen Huang breaks bureaucracy at Nvidia with whiteboard and flat management strategies
The newly released book, The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant, reveals key insights into Nvidia's corporate culture. A notable aspect is CEO Jensen Huang's preference for whiteboards over PowerPoint presentations during business discussions. Unlike meticulously formatted slides, which can obscure meaningful ideas, Huang believes whiteboards encourage clearer and more focused exchanges.
Friday 13 December 2024
Cloud wars: Top players set to dominate AI landscape by 2025, according to Sequoia report
In a sweeping analysis of the AI sector, Sequoia Capital projects a widening competitive moat among leading cloud providers through 2025, as infrastructure buildout reaches critical mass. The venture firm's latest report, "AI in 2025: Building Blocks Firmly in Place," identifies a consolidation around five key players: Microsoft/OpenAI, Amazon/Anthropic, Google, Meta, and xAI.
Friday 13 December 2024
Supermicro partners with Nidec on water cooling CDU to enhance NVL72 cooling efficiency
Japanese company Nidec has announced its collaboration with Supermicro to develop a coolant distribution unit (CDU) for AI servers, which has already begun shipping. This new cooling solution boasts a performance that is 2.5x greater than existing devices of the same size and will be integrated into AI servers equipped with Nvidia GPUs.
Friday 13 December 2024
Google unveils Gemini 2.0 and next-gen TPU Trillium, ushering in the era of AI agents
Google has officially launched its upgraded AI model, Gemini 2.0, delivering enhanced performance and multimodal capabilities while paving the way for the future era of AI agents. Additionally, Google's sixth-generation Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) Trillium, first introduced at the I/O Developer Conference in May, is now operational to support Gemini 2.0's training and inference workloads.
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