Microsoft Corp. and Google owner Alphabet Inc. sent a clear message to investors on Thursday: Our spending on artificial intelligence and cloud computing is paying off.

Generative AI is entering the corporate application fields and bringing in practical challenges.

In a showcase of Taiwan's burgeoning AI ecosystem, the 2024 AI Expo held at the Expo Dome in Taipei Expo Park featured a lineup of 56 local AI startups, each offering diverse and innovative AI solutions tailored to meet the evolving needs of businesses worldwide.

In addressing high computing costs for Generative AI (GenAI), there is a market gap in on-device AI model fine-tuning computation between cloud AI servers and AI PC terminals.

Intel's recent financial report revealed a modest increase in revenue, but a loss for the first quarter of 2024, while the existing quarter's guidance is also disappointing. However, Intel has high hopes for Gaudi 3, expecting it to generate US$500 million in revenue in 2024.

Microsoft reported strong quarterly results. The surge was driven by corporate demand for Microsoft's cloud and AI offerings, particularly Azure. Microsoft plans to ramp up Capex to keep capitalizing on the explosive growth.

GenAI is expanding its footprint from cloud to edge, with leading chip and platform manufacturers joining forces to tap into the burgeoning market.

Generative AI is sweeping across various industries, and the cloud has become a key area of contention.

The current adoption rate of QLC NAND SSD in PCs is approximately 20-25%, and this rate is expected to expand dramatically in 2024, according to Micron Technology. The primary use cases for AI in PCs are to facilitate the significant expansion of Solid-State Drive (SSD) storage capacity and to fulfill the growing demand for terabyte-level storage.

Synopsys has disclosed extensive EDA and IP collaboration with TSMC for advanced node designs, which have been used in a wide range of AI, high-performance computing, and mobile applications. Among the most recent collaborations is a co-optimized Photonic IC flow that uses silicon photonics technology to boost power, performance, and transistor density.

Japan-based semiconductor company Renesas released its financial results for the first quarter of 2024 on April 25. The company experienced a limited profit decline and expected the weaker performance to continue in the second quarter.

Intel is collaborating with its ecosystem partners to accelerate the adoption of liquid cooling in servers and data centers.

In the coming years, the proportion of revenue from TSMC's AI processor manufacturing is expected to steadily increase.

The annual Computex Taipei event will be held at the Nangang Exhibition Hall from June 4-7 2024.

At the 2024 North America Technology Symposium, TSMC demonstrated its latest semiconductor process, advanced packaging, and 3D IC technologies, which will drive the next wave of AI developments with silicon leadership.

As the US-China technology war enters its seventh year, with the process of domestic substitution policy of China's semiconductor industry continuing to deepen, China's local Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software products have made considerable progress in recent years and accelerated their development to bridge the 15 years gap with their American and European rivals.

The continuous surge in generative AI applications is driving strong demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), significantly benefiting Japanese suppliers of materials and equipment associated with HBM production. This trend is prompting these suppliers to make significant investments in expanding their production capacity.

Demand for most ICT end products such as TVs, smartphones, and PCs is expected to welcome a recovery in the second half of 2024.

AI Expo Taiwan 2024 was opened on April 24, with more than 20,000 people visiting the event on the first day. Jack Sun, who retired as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of TSMC and is currently Dean of the Industry Academia Innovation School (IAIS) of National Yangming-Chiaotung University, revealed a secret about TSMC in his keynote speech.

Supreme Electronics, an IC distributor specializing in memory chips, is targeting the Indian and Southeast Asian markets for electric scooter demand opportunities.

High-speed transmission chip specialist Parade Technologies expects demand for AI PCs and AMOLED iPads to drive its sales growth in the second half of 2024.

During his opening keynote speech at the AI Expo Taiwan 2024 on April 24, ST Liew, vice president of Qualcomm Technologies and president of Qualcomm Taiwan and Southeast Asia, pointed to the infinite potential that AI still holds, as well as a fundamental shift toward edge devices enabled by improved wireless connectivity and transmission.

Innolux and AUO stated that the panel industry has bottomed out in the first quarter of 2024 and they are projecting double-digit revenue growth from their automotive applications.

India is ramping up efforts to craft dedicated AI regulations or frameworks to address challenges posed by generative AI as it prepares for the AI-driven future.

At the AI Expo Taiwan 2024, running from April 24–26 at the Taipei Expo Park, major chip companies offer their take on potential developments in cloud and edge AI technologies, with the development and challenges in edge computing taking a particular focus.