AI has not only become the most important keyword in the entire tech industry but also driven major cloud service providers to gear up efforts to develop their own computing chips. But given the high threshold for non-semiconductor firms to enter IC designs, a more cost-effective way for them is to develop ASICs (application specific integrated circuits) in cooperation with IC design houses. Major semiconductor players with a large amount of IP (intellectual property) are also eager to enter the growing ASIC market, according to industry sources.
Taiwanese IC designers such as Alchip and Global Unichip haven been named as beneficiaries in the ongoing wave of AI. Both firms indicated that despite the consumer market outlook remaining uncertain, the rapid development of AI will significantly benefit ASIC-related businesses, and the robust demand for self-developed chips from cloud service giants will become a major growth driver for IC design houses.
Leading fabless chipmaker MediaTek has frequently mentioned its ASIC deployments in recent years, and it is gradually foraying into the high-performance-computing (HPC) chip market through the development of its ASIC service business, industry sources said.
MediaTek has not disclosed any plans to develop its own ASIC platform products in the short term, but its current HPC chip development has exerted some pressure on other domestic ASIC suppliers, the sources said, adding that despite some skeptism from competitors, MediaTek has shown increasingly positive trends in the development of the computing chip market.
Meanwhile, Novatek Microelectronics has also moved to tap the ASIC business by taking advantage of its vast technological expertise and IP in the field of imaging. The move is driven by an increasing number of customers looking to create product differentiations in applications like TVs, smartphones, and high-end displays, industry sources said, adding that Novatek is eyeing the growing demand for customized display-related ASIC services from terminal customers.
From Novatek's example, it is evident that not only cloud service giants but more and more brand vendors are also seeking unique ways to differentiate and upgrade their products through the enhancement of chip functionality and performance, the sources stressed.
Industry insiders admit that in entering the IC design field, tech giants or brand vendors should not only inject substantial resources and time, but also face a concurrent risk of development failures. Google, for instance, has been aggressively recruiting IC design talent worldwide, hoping to achieve breakthroughs in the semiconductor field, but has not made significant progress as of now and still has to rely on the ASIC service support from Broadcom, the insiders said.
