Latest Semiconductor News Released on September 10 to 16, 2023

Nvidia submits first Grace Hopper CPU Superchip Benchmarks to MLPerf

Nvidia announced today that it had submitted its first benchmark results for its Grace Hopper CPU+GPU Superchip and its L4 GPU accelerators to the latest version of MLPerf. This benchmark results mark two noteworthy “firsts”: the addition of a new large language model (LLM) GPT-J inference benchmark and an improved recommendation model. The company also claimed that the Grace Hopper Superchip delivers 17% better inference performance than one of its market-leading H100 GPUs on the GPT-J benchmark, and that its L4 GPUs deliver up to 6x the performance of Intel Xeon CPUs.

Qualcomm to supply Apple with 5G chips until 2026 under new deal

Qualcomm recently announced that it will provide modem 5G chips to Apple for use in smartphones launched in 2024, 2025 and 2026. The terms of the deal are similar to previous arrangements between the two companies. It shows that Apple's long-standing effort to develop its own modems won't be making its way into the company's flagship phones anytime soon.

Biden to visit Hanoi to strengthen US-Vietnam relations

President Joe Biden visited Hanoi to unveil a historic upgrade in the United States' relationship with Vietnam to a comprehensive strategic partnership, with both countries working together to achieve the commn goals of peace and prosperity, and sustainable development.

The announcement pointed out that the relationship between the two countries has undergone an unprecedented and significant upgrade, from a starting connection established in 2013 to a comprehensive strategic partnership. This is a huge step made by the two governments to establish and enhance mutual understanding and chart a forward-looking path for the future.

Nvidia to partner with India's Tata and Reliance for AI development

Nvidia on Friday announced AI partnerships with Indian Reliance Industries and Tata Group to develop cloud infrastructure and language models and build applications.

The deals with two largest players will help Nvidia deepen its push into the South Asian country's emerging AI ecosystem, even as the company faces obstacles in certain chip exports to China and other countries due to U.S. restrictions.

Arm climbs 25% in Nasdaq debut after pricing IPO at $51 a share

Arm, the world's largest IPO chip design company this year, was listed on Nasdaq. The IPO was priced at US$51 per share, and it closed up 24% on the first day, with a market value of US$65.2 billion. SoftBank Group raised $4.87 billion in the year's largest initial public offering, satisfying its ambitions for Arm while resisting the temptation to try for more money.

TSMC to fulfill more 3nm order commitments in 2024

TSMC has deployed 3nm process technology into mass production, and Apple is its first customer. It is preparing to execute more 3nm chip orders from other major customers in 2024. By then, the output of the 3nm process series will increase significantly. The foundry's current 3nm process output is expected to be approximately 65,000 wafers.

SEMI: Fab equipment spending to rebound next year

The latest report from the International Semiconductor Industry Association (SEMI) shows that global fab equipment spending is expected to drop 15% year-on-year from US$99.5 billion before 2022 to US$84 billion. By 2024, it will rebound by 15% year-on-year, reaching US$97 billion.

SEMI said weak chip demand and rising mobile device inventories will lead to lower sales in 2023. The recovery in fab equipment spending next year will be driven in part by the end of semiconductor inventory adjustments in 2023 and increased demands in high-performance computing (HPC) and memory.

Thunderbolt 5 officially unveiled by Intel offering 120 Gbps

Intel is making Thunderbolt 5 official, ahead of new accessories and PCs in 2024. According to its public data, Thunderbolt 5 can support the transmission of multiple 8K signals on external displays, support a maximum refresh rate of 540Hz, and support tri-band 4K@144Hz displays at the same time. In terms of data transmission, Thunderbolt 5 provides more than 2 times the bandwidth for external SSDs, external graphics cards and other creative peripherals, making it easier to use.