Nvidia’s Analyst Day demonstrated the company is now the leading force in the data center. They have risen to this crest on the back of some incredible execution, and their rise shows the very powerful wave washing through the market for compute semis。
Arm is cutting jobs in advance of its IPO – we think their reasons for these cuts are likely misplaced, and probably creates more problems for them in the years ahead.
It is now likely that Arm will go public. As a public company they may finally have to face up to the challenges facing them.
Before we get to autonomous vehicles, there is going to be a big market for a special-purpose automotive processors (APU?). That chip is going to look a lot like a mobile app processor, and Qualcomm may be the best positioned to capture the opportunity.
Plumbing for Semis – Arm and SiFive are M&A targets, they provide crucial plumbing for almost all chips today, and their ultimate fate will have a big impact on the industry.
Intel 2.0’s Customer Dilemma – If Intel can sort out its manufacturing process, if it can find the funds it needs, if it can build up a true customer service capability, and if can do all this in under three years, then IFS may be viable.
The Gaming Internet – Why so Laggy? Early (hard to reverse) engineering choices and basic geography often underpin poor game networking conditions.
Heterogeneous Compute – The competitive dynamics of the processor markets were static for years, but the demand for “AI” and the emergence of new customers/competitors means the market for all processors is likely to shift considerably in coming years.
Where will Apple take Silicon next? – Apple is looking to build its own GPUs next, and that will give them a clever way to boost PC margins.
Do Nvidia’s competitors want it to buy Arm? Chip companies are worried that Nvidia will be successful with Arm, but they are much more worried that Nvidia fails putting an immense burden on an industry that depends on Arm.
Digits to Dollars 