The technology sector is perpetually evolving, and the advent of generative AI has significantly amplified the need for powerful and efficient processing capabilities. In a recent discussion with Mohit Gupta, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Custom Silicon and IP at Alphawave Semi, we explored how his company leverages its intellectual property and engineering expertise to meet the burgeoning demand for custom silicon innovation. This dialogue illuminates the growing trend towards bespoke solutions and how Alphawave Semi is spearheading advancements in this dynamic field.
The conventional era of universal solutions is rapidly becoming obsolete. Generative AI, with its diverse workloads and specialised requirements, necessitates a bespoke approach. As Mohit elucidated during our conversation, “The need for custom silicon arises because companies are encountering a multitude of workload challenges. They require solutions that can directly address these challenges and maximise system efficiency.” Custom silicon allows for optimisation of specific parameters essential to AI infrastructure, which generic, off-the-shelf solutions might not always satisfy. Mohit identified key areas of customer concern: “Consider a scenario where memory bandwidth is the bottleneck in your system. With custom silicon, you can design a chip that prioritises increased bandwidth, leading to a substantial performance boost. Similarly, network latency or cost reduction can be targeted based on specific needs.”
Alphawave Semi is distinguished by its unique strategy in the custom silicon arena, founded on four principal pillars:
- Connectivity: High-performance interconnects form the backbone of any complex chip design. Alphawave Semi focuses on constructing a robust connectivity foundation of IP and chiplets within custom silicon designs, ensuring seamless communication between different processing elements on the chip and between chiplets in advanced 2.5D/3D packaging.
- Compute: The core of AI processing lies in compute engines. Alphawave Semi employs state-of-the-art design techniques to achieve the optimal balance between power and performance for specific workload requirements. Their modular design enables compute scalability. As a founding member of the Arm Total Design Partnership, Alphawave Semi provides an expedited pathway for specialised System on Chip (SoC) solutions based on Arm Neoverse Compute Subsystems (CSS).
- Complex Silicon Building Blocks: Creating a custom chip involves more than merely assembling existing components. Alphawave Semi utilises its expertise in designing complex silicon building blocks tailored to the unique needs of each project. Their modular design facilitates rapid delivery of chiplet-enabled custom solutions, leveraging established silicon building block configurations rather than costly bespoke designs.
- Advanced Packaging: As chip designs grow more sophisticated, advanced packaging techniques are essential for efficient integration. Alphawave Semi offers cutting-edge packaging solutions that ensure optimal functionality and performance of chiplet-enabled custom silicon designs.
Alphawave Semi’s commitment to custom silicon solutions has garnered notable market success. Mohit highlighted their engineering and IP advancements, which have significantly enhanced customer engagement: “We’ve achieved successful designs using both 5-nanometer and 3-nanometer processes, demonstrating our capability to deliver leading-edge solutions.” The rapidly evolving AI landscape, along with Alphawave Semi’s progress in advanced process nodes and packaging, promises continued market success. As companies push technological boundaries and explore new frontiers in generative AI, the demand for bespoke solutions is set to increase. With its focus on specific needs, innovative technologies, and proven track record, Alphawave Semi is well-positioned to lead in this promising future. I, for one, will be keenly observing their journey as the realm of chiplet-based custom design progresses.
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.
