Microsoft is reportedly building its own AI chip that will help to power the artificial integrations the company has planned across its platforms and services. According to DigiTimes, the company will use the TSMC CoWoS platform as the underpinning technology for the chip.
TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) is the biggest contract chip manufacturer in the world. Its Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate (CoWoS) chipset is a platform that is designed for high-performance computing, such as AI solutions.
In recent years, TSMC has been struggling amid the end market chip decline. The near two-year chip shortage that was exasperated by the pandemic saw the company come under pressure. However, the sudden mainstreaming of AI is bringing tech companies back into the chip market.
Services like OpenAI's ChatGPT have put AI in the headlines. Moreover, Microsoft has been at the forefront of the mainstream AI push. The company's Bing Chat AI search engine is available in preview, while AI is finding its way into Microsoft products including Office, Azure, Skype, and eventually Windows 12.
Growth
Microsoft is now a bona fide AI company, so it makes sense that it wants more control over its products. To help this goal, Microsoft is said to be looking into building its own AI chip and TSMC is likely to become the manufacturer.
TSMC is bullish and sees the AI surge as a guarantee of good business this year. In fact, as the tech industry reels with thousands of layoffs across Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, Spotify, PayPal, Twitter, and more, TSMC is bucking the trend. In fact, Reuters reports the company plans on hiring 6,000 new employees in 2023.
The company is also opening a new US plant in 2024 that will supply chipsets to Apple. A long-standing customer, Apple makes up 25% of TSMC's revenue each year.
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