Imec CEO Calls for 'Programmable' AI Chips * SciTechTimes.com

Luc Van den hove, CEO of the leading semiconductor research and development organization Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (imec), has warned that the industry must shift its focus towards reconfigurable chip architectures to keep pace with the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence.

In a statement ahead of imec’s ITF World conference in Antwerp, Belgium, Van den hove highlighted that the current approach of developing specialized, high-power chips is being outpaced by the swift innovation in AI algorithms. This discrepancy, he noted, leads to significant drawbacks in terms of energy consumption, cost, and the speed of hardware development.

“There is a huge inherent risk of stranded assets because by the time the AI hardware is finally ready, the fast-moving AI software community may have taken a different turn,” Van den hove stated.

While some companies, like OpenAI, are exploring the development of custom chips to accelerate innovation, Van den hove considers this strategy risky and economically unviable for most.

Imec, a Belgium-based research center renowned for its pioneering work in semiconductor technology, often sees its breakthroughs adopted by major chip manufacturers like TSMC and Intel years later.

Looking ahead, as the AI landscape evolves beyond large language models to encompass agentic AI and physical AI for applications such as medical diagnostics and autonomous driving, Van den hove envisions future chips incorporating all necessary functionalities into adaptable building blocks known as supercells.

“A network-on-chip will steer and reconfigure these supercells so they can be quickly adapted to the latest algorithm requirements,” he explained.

Achieving this level of flexibility will necessitate the widespread adoption of true three-dimensional (3D) stacking, a sophisticated manufacturing technique that involves bonding layers of logic and memory silicon together. Imec has played a crucial role in advancing and refining 3D stacking technology, which is expected to be featured in TSMC’s A14 and Intel’s 18A-PT future process nodes.

Imec’s annual flagship conference, ITF World, will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday in Antwerp, Belgium.

Interesting Fact

Did you know that the concept of reconfigurable computing dates back several decades? One of the early examples is the Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), which emerged in the mid-1980s. FPGAs are integrated circuits that can be configured by the user after manufacturing, offering a level of hardware programmability. While not exactly the “supercells” envisioned by imec’s CEO, FPGAs demonstrate the long-standing interest and potential in creating more flexible and adaptable hardware.