The global artificial intelligence (AI) server market is expected to remain dominated by servers based on graphics processing units (GPUs) this year, but application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs)-based models are set to see faster growth in shipments, the Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC) said.
As major cloud service providers (CSPs) continue to train large language models for machine learning, outlays on AI data centers and high-density GPU server racks remain a priority, MIC said.
CSPs would continue relying on GPU ecosystems when offering computing resources to customers, since most enterprises and developers remain accustomed to working within GPU environments, MIC information and communications technology section deputy director Chris Wei (魏傳虔) said last week.
Photo courtesy of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co
However, demand for servers powered by ASICs is growing as the market’s focus gradually shifts toward inference, Wei said.
While AI training is akin to preparing materials in a centralized factory — capital-intensive and large in scale — inference resembles bringing those materials back on premises, where use is more distributed and steady.
Such a pattern makes shipment growth for ASIC-based servers more likely to outpace that of GPU-based models this year, Wei said.
Shipments of servers used for AI inference are expected to be about four times higher than those used for training this year, highlighting the role ASICs could play.
ASICs are well-suited to inference demand, as they prioritize efficiency and cost control, Wei said.
Inference workloads are relatively fixed and suitable for specialized designs that can complete specific tasks with lower power consumption, he said.
MIC expects Taiwanese manufacturers who already produce GPU servers to expand into the ASIC segment smoothly, Wei said.
The key to future competition for these manufacturers lies not only in securing orders tied to specific chips, but in whether they can build system integration capabilities and flexible production lines for both GPU and ASIC-based platforms, he said.
SECOND-RATE: Models distilled from US products do not perform the same as the original and undo measures that ensure the systems are neutral, the US’ cable said The US Department of State has ordered a global push to bring attention to what it said are widespread efforts by Chinese companies, including artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek (深度求索), to steal intellectual property from US AI labs, according to a diplomatic cable. The cable, dated Friday and sent to diplomatic and consular posts around the world, instructs diplomatic staff to speak to their foreign counterparts about “concerns over adversaries’ extraction and distillation of US AI models.” Distillation is the process of training smaller AI models using output from larger, more expensive ones to lower the costs of training a powerful new
Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) have repeatedly hit new highs, but an equity analyst said the stock’s valuation remains within a reasonable range and any pullback would likely be technical. The contract chipmaker’s historical price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio has ranged between 20 and 30, Cathay Futures Consultant Co (國泰證期) analyst Tsai Ming-han (蔡明翰) told Central News Agency. With market consensus projecting that TSMC would post earnings per share of about NT$100 (US$3.17) this year, supported by strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, and the stock currently trading at a P/E ratio of below 25, Tsai said the valuation
The artificial intelligence (AI) boom has triggered a seismic reshuffling of global equity markets, with Taiwan and South Korea muscling past European nations one by one. With its stock market now valued at nearly US$4.3 trillion, Taiwan surpassed the UK, Europe’s biggest market, earlier this month, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. South Korea is about US$140 billion away from doing the same. The tech-heavy Asian markets have shot past Germany and France in the past seven months. The shift is largely down to massive gains in shares of three companies that provide essential hardware for AI: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電),
The US Department of Commerce last week ordered multiple chip equipment companies to halt shipments of certain tools to China’s second-largest chipmaker, Hua Hong Semiconductor Ltd (華虹半導體), its latest action to slow the country’s development of advanced chips, two people familiar with the matter said. The department sent letters to at least a handful of companies informing them of restrictions on tools and other materials destined for two Hua Hong facilities US officials believe make China’s most sophisticated chips, the people said. Top US chip equipment companies Lam Research Corp, Applied Materials Inc and KLA Corp, each of which has significant
RSS