Yazılar

Taiwanese prosecutors detain three over alleged TSMC chip secret theft

/in /tarafından

Taiwanese prosecutors have detained three individuals — two current TSMC employees and one former staff member surnamed Chen — over allegations of stealing trade secrets from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest chip foundry. The detentions took place late last month following a TSMC internal investigation that uncovered unauthorized access to company information.

Two additional suspects were released on bail, while another was released without bail. Authorities suspect the detained individuals of violating Taiwan’s national security law, though no detailed identities have been disclosed.

TSMC stated it initiated legal action and disciplinary measures against those involved after routine monitoring detected suspicious activity. The company’s early detection system prompted swift internal inquiries, leading to the identification of personnel linked to the breach. The matter is now under judicial review, preventing further public disclosure from TSMC.

According to Nikkei Asia, the case involves attempts by several former employees to obtain highly sensitive information related to TSMC’s 2-nanometer chip technology — considered the industry’s most advanced in density and energy efficiency. Investigations have not yet determined whether the stolen information was transferred to external parties or the full scope of the leak.

Taiwanese media outlet United Daily News reported that prosecutors also searched offices of Japanese chip equipment supplier Tokyo Electron, though both the company and prosecutors declined comment.

TSMC, a critical supplier to Nvidia, Apple, and Qualcomm, reiterated its zero-tolerance policy on trade secret violations, vowing to prosecute offenders to the fullest extent of the law.

Huawei CEO Admits Chip Technology One Generation Behind U.S. but Highlights Innovation Workarounds

/in /tarafından

Huawei Technologies’ CEO Ren Zhengfei acknowledged on Tuesday that the company’s chips lag behind U.S. peers by one generation but emphasized that Huawei is overcoming this gap through innovative approaches such as cluster computing and compound chip designs. In an interview with the People’s Daily, the Chinese state media outlet, Ren stated that there is “no need to worry about the chip problem,” despite ongoing U.S. export restrictions.

Ren revealed that Huawei invests about 180 billion yuan ($25.07 billion) annually in research, with around a third allocated to theoretical research. He stressed the importance of theory for breakthroughs, noting, “Without theory, there will be no breakthroughs, and we will not catch up with the United States.”

U.S. export controls, introduced since 2019 to curb China’s access to advanced chipmaking technology, have limited Huawei’s ability to source high-end chips and manufacturing equipment. Nevertheless, Huawei’s strategy involves supplementing traditional chip advances (Moore’s law) with mathematical approaches, non-Moore’s law technologies, and cluster computing — where multiple chips or computers work together to boost performance.

Huawei’s Ascend AI chip series competes domestically with Nvidia, though U.S. restrictions bar Nvidia from selling its most advanced AI chips to China. Despite this, Huawei has developed AI systems like the “AI CloudMatrix 384,” linking 384 Ascend 910C chips in a cluster that, according to some analysts, can outperform Nvidia’s comparable offerings in certain metrics.

Ren also commented on perceptions of Huawei’s stature, saying the U.S. “has exaggerated Huawei’s achievements” and that the company still has work ahead to reach those high expectations.

This interview comes as top U.S. and Chinese officials resume trade talks in London, where technology export restrictions are key discussion points.

Celestial AI Secures $250 Million to Enhance AI Chip Connectivity

/in /tarafından

Silicon Valley-based startup Celestial AI has raised an additional $250 million in venture capital, bringing its total funding to $515 million. The company aims to accelerate AI computing by leveraging photonics—a technology that uses light instead of electrical signals—to enhance the speed of data transfer between AI processing and memory chips.

Memory bandwidth, which determines the efficiency of AI systems, is a crucial factor in chip performance and a key consideration in U.S. government export controls aimed at limiting China’s AI capabilities. Currently, Nvidia dominates this space with its proprietary NVLink and NVSwitch technologies, prompting a surge in investments to develop alternative solutions. Celestial AI’s competitors, Lightmatter and Ayar Labs, have raised $850 million and $370 million, respectively, in similar efforts.

Celestial AI is backed by AMD Ventures, the investment arm of Nvidia’s competitor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The company is working on a “photonic fabric” that acts as a high-speed bridge between multiple chips. According to CEO Dave Lazovsky, the technology improves efficiency by reducing energy consumption and latency while saving valuable chip space.

“There are no good answers outside of Nvidia,” Lazovsky said in an interview at Celestial AI’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California. “What we’ve created with photonic fabric achieves similar functionality but with superior energy efficiency and lower latency.”

The funding round was led by Fidelity Management & Research and included BlackRock, Maverick Capital, Tiger Global Management, and former Cadence Design Systems CEO Lip-Bu Tan. Existing investors such as AMD Ventures, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Singapore’s state investor Temasek, and Porsche Automobil Holding also participated.