Alphawave Semi, a leading player in high-speed connectivity and computing silicon, has secured a research grant from the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). This funding aims to address networking bottlenecks that are currently stifling the growth of artificial intelligence. Research from Meta reveals that AI processors often remain idle for around 40% of the time as they wait for data, leading to inefficient use of resources.
To tackle these challenges and promote more effective AI scaling, ARIA is facilitating a transition towards improved processing systems adept at managing complex data. The agency has allocated £50 million (approximately $65 million) to twelve organisations, including Alphawave Semi, with a focus on advancing networking and interconnect technologies.
Tony Chan Carusone, Chief Technology Officer of Alphawave Semi, emphasised the importance of new connectivity solutions for sustainable AI development. He noted that innovation is required across the technology spectrum, from component technologies ranging from 224Gbps to 448Gbps, to advancements in networking architectures and algorithms. The company plans to develop state-of-the-art technologies that will enhance interconnectivity among AI accelerator clusters. Alphawave Semi aims to leverage its expertise and existing partnerships in chiplet-based connectivity for this initiative, which is expected to have a long-term impact on the future of AI.
Recently, Alphawave Semi announced the successful tape-out of its first multi-protocol I/O connectivity chiplet for high-performance computing. Additionally, it has created the first 3 nm intellectual property for UCIe, the open chiplet communication protocol, in collaboration with TSMC. Partnerships related to UCIe and chiplet technologies have also been established with companies such as Samsung and Arm.
ARIA’s broader efforts to reduce reliance on cutting-edge chip manufacturing include developing software simulators to assess system performance, alongside cost and power requirements, as well as improvements in computational capabilities.
Alphawave IP Group plc (LON:AWE) is a semiconductor IP company focused on providing DSP based, multi-standard connectivity Silicon IP solutions targeting both data processing in the Datacenter and data generation by IoT end devices.
