Nowadays, almost all companies are investing in artificial intelligence. However, the kings of the ball are still the United States and China, leading by far this technological war. From applications in quantum technology, military AI, and companies like NVIDIA, technological supremacy is now focused on semiconductor chip production. Experts say that more than strategies and technological competition, it is a geopolitical war, where whoever has the most control and best positioning wins.
Chips-on-Wafer-on-Substrate, CoWoS
On the basis that there should be no conflict of any kind in the world, today’s wars are being waged over the power and control of technology. In fact, the domain of Artificial Intelligence (main asset of countries and companies), is not so much focused on the algorithms and precision of responses, but on how the chip they contain is stored.
The leading company in this field is undoubtedly TSMC, with its Chips-on-Wafer-on-Substrate (CoWoS). It is a chip packaging system that allows to unite CPU, GPU, and memory chips, being able to support the weight of data of an AI. This reduces energy consumption and improves performance. In fact, it is the technology that is used today to run GPT-4, and the one that will be used for the next generation of Nvidia’s Blackwell chips.
Where are chips currently manufactured?
Until relatively recently, the monopoly of chip manufacturing was located in Taiwan. However, the United States is getting a break. The TSMC company has been partly responsible for this, leading one of the largest foreign investments, with $165 billion. Two packaging and R&D plants are planned to be established in Arizona, which will meet the ever-increasing demand from companies such as AMD, Nvidia, Broadcom, Apple or Qualcomm. The fact that the United States has the support of a leading company and its own production sites is an important paradigm shift.
What does this mean?
It does not try to compete for the best technology in AI, the most powerful answers, fast or the most complex algorithms. Now the focus is on the most powerful weapon that has ever existed: control. Whoever has control, has power. This is why the United States has taken a step forward by establishing TSMC bases within its borders. This puts the country in a situation of “independence” vis-Ã -vis China, with whom relations are increasingly strained, which is creating a very unstable climate. Now, the US can develop this technology in its own home, so it loses vulnerability to its main enemy.
Trump puts TSMC in trouble
The arrival of TSMC in the United States is a brilliant news. However, it is not good news that the company conveys upon its arrival. President Trump’s tariff policies leave no one standing. There have already been complaints from the company management about labour shortages and political delays in Arizona. In addition, semiconductor materials imported into the country have also experienced increased tariffs, which could cause an even greater problem. The set of contingencies reported by TSMC could slow down the works. Despite all this, the demand for these new packaging bases is so strong that according to the company’s CEO, C.Wei, the company is moving forward.
From the most ridiculous to the most desired experiment
In 2009, Chiang Shang-yi created what everyone wants to have today; CoWoS. He was widely criticized for embarking on such an expensive project. Now, CoWoS CEO Jensen Huang describes it market, and everyone wants to participate dee as “the packaging process of Nvidia”. No one wants to be left behind. CoWoS technology is no longer exclusive, it’s a strategy of that strategy.
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