Earlier quoted context omitted.
Azure networking has been FPGA-based for years.
Yup. Started as project catapult: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/project-cat...
The first two custom silicon chips designed by Microsoft for its cloud
221–230 of 282 posts
Re: The first two custom silicon chips designed by Microsoft for its cloud
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
The only three are Samsung, Intel, and TSMC. Idk why going on with Intel but Samsung should BSs doing better but that institutional knowledge that TSMC has is crazy. They all technically invest in asml that makes the machines. If I had to redo my education I’d get into electrical engineering just for this.
> If I had to redo my education I’d get into electrical engineering just for this. This is the crazy thing. Such fundamental important technology but salaries generally suck. Much more money in cat memes and influencer channels.
Re: The first two custom silicon chips designed by Microsoft for its cloud
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
More like ASML is solving the physics problems and TSMC is the one with the most capital and experience to run their EUV machines. It’s not that other competitors don’t exist, it’s more like they’ve given up or can’t keep up. Global foundations I believe isn’t making the investment past 16nm. Samsungs latest node doesn’t perform as good as TSMC and intel is being intel.
No. I don’t know where this oft-repeated semiconductor meme came from, but it’s a really poor take. ASML are solving a small subset of physics problems: how to project extremely small features. TSMC are solving many more physics problems: how to structure layers of doped silicon into transistors, how to structure those transistors into logic gates, and those logic gates into functional blocks. This is why silicon pro…
Re: The first two custom silicon chips designed by Microsoft for its cloud
#224Re: The first two custom silicon chips designed by Microsoft for its cloud
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
It blows my mind that not only are Apple, Nvidia, and all other enormous "chip makers" fabless... but there's ONE single company actually making the majority of all their chips. Why aren't any other companies entering this space? TSMC's growth and profits are immense, it's not like the market couldn't bear more competitors. Also, the current situation is geopolitical insanity. It feels like China and the U.S. are on…
Why doesn't anyone enter? It takes billions and billions of dollars, tons of knowledge and if you get it wrong...even Intel screwed it up, and they are one of the only companies would could even try to do it.
Re: The first two custom silicon chips designed by Microsoft for its cloud
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's insanely hard. TSMC is so dominant because they have very, very, deep institutional knowledge. Even if you have billions to invest it's not easy to create that, and definitely impossible to do it short term. There's only 3 companies left chasing smaller nodes. Everyone else has given up and are focusing on revenue from high volume parts in older processes.
The only three are Samsung, Intel, and TSMC. Idk why going on with Intel but Samsung should BSs doing better but that institutional knowledge that TSMC has is crazy. They all technically invest in asml that makes the machines. If I had to redo my education I’d get into electrical engineering just for this.
Re: The first two custom silicon chips designed by Microsoft for its cloud
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
More like ASML is solving the physics problems and TSMC is the one with the most capital and experience to run their EUV machines. It’s not that other competitors don’t exist, it’s more like they’ve given up or can’t keep up. Global foundations I believe isn’t making the investment past 16nm. Samsungs latest node doesn’t perform as good as TSMC and intel is being intel.
> Global foundations I believe isn’t making the investment past 16nm. GlobalFoundries' Fab 1 can do 1 nm, and its Fab 8 is capable of doing 14 nm: > https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=GlobalFoundries&o...
Re: The first two custom silicon chips designed by Microsoft for its cloud
#228Re: The first two custom silicon chips designed by Microsoft for its cloud
#229“People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.” - Alan Kay
Re: The first two custom silicon chips designed by Microsoft for its cloud
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
nVidia still has the monopoly on training. Everyone else is just making chips for inference.
Shouldn't inference be 99.999% of the compute cost over time? Especially for MS. Look how many Copilots they are cramming into their products