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TSMC and Chip Design Firms Use AI to Cut Energy Use in Next-Gen Chips

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The chips powering artificial intelligence consume enormous amounts of electricity, but Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, unveiled new efforts on Wednesday to make them more efficient—by using AI-powered software in the chip design process.

Speaking at a Silicon Valley conference, TSMC showcased strategies it says could boost the energy efficiency of AI chips by as much as 10 times.

Nvidia’s flagship AI servers, for instance, can draw up to 1,200 watts under heavy workloads—comparable to the electricity used by 1,000 U.S. homes if run continuously. TSMC’s approach centers on a new generation of chiplet-based designs, where multiple smaller chips made with different technologies are packaged together to function as a single processor.

To enable these designs, chipmakers are increasingly turning to AI-driven software tools. Partners like Cadence Design Systems and Synopsys debuted new products on Wednesday, built in close collaboration with TSMC. These tools have shown they can outperform human engineers in solving complex design problems—and in a fraction of the time.

“That helps to max out TSMC technology’s capability, and we find this is very useful,” said Jim Chang, deputy director of TSMC’s 3DIC Methodology Group. “This thing runs five minutes while our designer needs to work for two days.”

Still, physical constraints remain. As chips scale up, moving data on and off them via traditional electrical connections is reaching its limits. New approaches, such as optical interconnects to transfer information between chips, must be made reliable enough for deployment in massive data centers.

“Really, this is not an engineering problem,” said Kaushik Veeraraghavan, an engineer at Meta’s infrastructure group during his keynote. “It’s a fundamental physical problem.”

U.S. Eases Chip Software and Ethane Export Curbs Amid China Trade Truce

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The United States has lifted export restrictions on chip design software and ethane to China, signaling further de-escalation of trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. The move follows Beijing’s agreement to ease controls on rare earth exports—a key concession that helped maintain a fragile trade truce.

Restrictions Reversed

Leading electronic design automation (EDA) software firms—Synopsys, Cadence Design Systems, and Siemens—confirmed they are resuming sales and support for Chinese customers after receiving notification from the U.S. Department of Commerce that prior restrictions have been revoked.

  • Siemens announced Thursday it has restarted business operations in China, causing its shares to rise 1.7% after market opening.

  • Synopsys said it plans to restore customer access within three business days.

The EDA tools, essential for advanced semiconductor design, are dominated by these three firms, which together control over 70% of China’s market, according to Xinhua.

Ethane Export Curbs Also Rescinded

On the same day, the U.S. government also notified ethane producers that licensing requirements imposed in May and June had been withdrawn, allowing resumption of exports to China.

These curbs had been part of a broader U.S. response to China’s April suspension of rare earth exports, which had disrupted global supply chains for automakers, aerospace firms, chipmakers, and military contractors.

The Bigger Picture: Rare Earths for Rollbacks

According to a source familiar with the internal U.S. strategy, the Biden administration took a calculated step:

“The U.S. have escalated to de-escalate. They put restrictions on many more items in order to get the Chinese to back off on rare earths.”

Following negotiations, both sides reportedly confirmed a framework agreement in which:

  • China will review export applications for sensitive goods,

  • And the U.S. will roll back countermeasures imposed earlier this year.

China’s Commerce Ministry affirmed the arrangement last Friday, paving the way for what analysts describe as a return to February-March status quo.

Remaining Uncertainties

Despite the rollback on EDA tools and ethane, it remains unclear whether the U.S. has also lifted other strategic restrictions, including:

  • GE Aerospace’s license suspension for jet engine exports to COMAC’s C919 aircraft,

  • Or limitations on nuclear equipment suppliers selling to Chinese power plants.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has not yet commented on the latest developments.

Outlook

With both countries aiming to stabilize economic relations amid broader geopolitical tensions, more trade rollbacks could follow—particularly if the framework agreement holds. However, sector-specific restrictions tied to national security concerns are likely to remain or evolve in other forms.

Apple Explores Using AI to Accelerate Chip Design, Says Executive

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Apple is exploring the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up the design of its custom chips, a senior hardware technology executive revealed during a recent speech.

Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies, spoke last month in Belgium while receiving an award from Imec, a semiconductor research and development group that collaborates with leading chipmakers worldwide.

In his speech, Srouji traced Apple’s journey in chip design from the introduction of the first A4 chip in the iPhone back in 2010 to the latest processors powering Mac desktop computers and the Vision Pro headset. He emphasized that using the most advanced design tools is essential to meet the growing complexity of Apple’s chips.

He highlighted the importance of electronic design automation (EDA) software, developed by companies like Cadence Design Systems and Synopsys, which are increasingly integrating AI technologies into their platforms. According to Srouji, generative AI has strong potential to boost productivity by enabling more chip design work in less time.

Srouji also reflected on Apple’s bold strategic decisions, especially the 2020 transition of its Mac computers from Intel processors to its own Apple Silicon chips. The move involved no fallback plans or partial rollouts, reflecting Apple’s commitment to fully owning the chip design and software integration process.

“Moving the Mac to Apple Silicon was a huge bet for us. There was no backup plan, no split-the lineup plan, so we went all in, including a monumental software effort,” Srouji said.