AI
Intel launches Gaudi 3 AI accelerator, Lunar Lake, Xeon 6, and more!
Intel Vision 2024 was held recently in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. AI represents a paradigm shift in how humans and technology interact. Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO talked, about the tangible outcomes AI can enable for businesses, and what the future of AI in enterprise looks like.
He said that we had a proud moment in Arizona on March 20, when we had the first major releases of the CHIPS Act coming to Intel for our Ocotillo facility. It was the largest investment in the semiconductor history. The CHIPS Act is the most important industrial policy since World War 2. Every aspect of our life is becoming digital! Era of AI is driving this huge momentum.
We have Intel Foundry as the systems foundry for the AI era. Intel Products are modular platforms for AI era. Intel Foundry is committed to becoming the world’s no. 2 foundry by the end of the decade. We will also be opening the doors to manufacturing for the first time ever for companies across the industry. Intel Foundry and Intel Products form a deadly combination. We are in the most intense period of innovation.
Every company will be an AI company in the future. AI workload is a key driver of the $1 trillion+ semiconductors TAM by 2030. AI is making everything exciting like we have never seen. It will change every aspect of business.
You need technology infrastructure that is scalable and flexible. You also need tangible business outcomes. Intel has the mission of bringing AI everywhere! We help enable AI for every aspect of your business. Wi-Fi made every office, coffee shop, etc., wireless. AI PC is like the Centrino moment. We are seeing AI PC momentum, using Intel Core Ultra. Over 5 million AI PCs have been shipped to date. We have 40-million-unit goal by end of this year. 500 models are optimized for Core Ultra. We are working with OEM partners like Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. Our roadmap is strong, and off to a good start.
Welcome Lunar Lake!
Intel’s next platform is the Lunar Lake. It is the second chip we have launched. It is the flagship SoC for next-gen AI PCs. It has 3x the AI performance. It has over 100 platform tops, 45 NPUs tops. The third generation is currently in the fab. We are going to drive the AI PC category.
AI will be creating every new business worker, and automating, streamlining, collaborating, with new insights. You need to refresh! It is the time to upgrade. Today, every app is going through an AI makeover. He encouraged participants to call their IT head and ask for AI PC refresh policy.
The next piece of bringing AI everywhere is the edge and enterprise. The killer app for next-gen edge is AI. Intel is building on the open standards platforms, and investing. There are three laws of the edge — economics, physics, and land. It is too expensive to bring back data to the cloud. Economics says: improve it to the edge. Next, we have skill requirements. Laws of physics drive you to the edge. Laws of the land are also important. Every nation has some form of GDPR capability. Edge is becoming increasingly important.
RAG unleashes data!
We have the retrieval augmented generation (RAG). It’s all about unleashing data! RAG becomes an important workflow for corporations to take advantage of data and GenAI. RAG, as a database and codes domain/business specific data, packages them together for complex queries into open standard LLM environments.
We now have Open Platform for enterprises. How can you deploy using the existing infrastructure, and do seamless integration. Now is the time to build an Open Platform for enterprise AI. We also have strong support from companies listed here, such as SAP, IBM, RedHat, VMware, Yellowbrick, etc. Based on this strong ecosystem, we will have effective benchmarking of these solutions.
Bringing an Open Platform will help with blueprints, reference designs available, and demonstrate performance, interoperability, trustworthiness, and ensure effective benchmarking and certification of these solutions. We will be rolling out next steps for the Open Platform for enterprise AI in Seattle next week.
Lan Guan, Accenture’s Chief AI Officer, said we help customers develop their AI strategies. There are three challenges. One, ambiguous value realization. Clients find hard to realize value from their AI investment. You really need to take the enterprise reinvention approach. The second challenge is the insufficient data quality. GIGO cannot be more truer, especially in the era of AI. As an example, Accenture does so much work in contact center AI. A client had 37 versions of SOP.
Third challenge is the widening talent gap. Many organizations need talents to build, operate, and manage AI. There are also lot of business users that need to be trained for effective prompt engineering.
You need to build with value. It is also time to build your digital core with data and AI foundations. Next, bridge your talent gaps. Further, you need to fix your responsible AI solution. GenAI is also about continued reinvention. Take a marginalized approach.
Xeon 6 to the fore
Gelsinger said Intel has been working for years on data center in the cloud. The Xeon innovation machine is not slowing down. We are now seeing rapid evolution of AI workloads. Intel is announcing the next-gen Xeon 6 processors. It is the new brand for next-gen of efficient core and performance core solution.
Xeon 6 with E-core is uniquely addressing the challenges. It is based on Intel 3. We will be moving Sierra Forest into production this quarter, and work with customers and OEMs to make that available. We are delivering 2.7x better rack density. We have 2.5x performance per watt improvements. With Xeon 6, we can reduce the need for telco data centers to just 72 racks, with same performance and capabilities. Xeon 6 provides up to 27 percent lower embodied carbon footprint over previous generation systems.
The big brother of Sierra Forest processor is the Xeon Gen 6 processor, formerly known as Granite Rapids with P-cores. We will be launching this shortly, after the Sierra Forest product. We are excited to be ramping it this year.
We are now looking at maximizing the power of your data. Over 60 percent of data is on the cloud. A vast majority of the data is still on-prem. 66 percent of that data is unused, and 90 percent of unstructured data is unused. LLMs and RAG provide an extraordinary opportunity to unlock this hidden asset. Xeon is tremendous for running RAG environments. It can run LLMs as well.
Intel is working to drive standards, in particular, microscaling formats or MX Alliance. We are working with Arm, Qualcomm, Nvidia, etc. One format is called MXFP4. It is floating 0.4 bit standard for Radix and Mantissa to operate effectively.
Next, we have Xeon 6 P-Core or Granite Rapids. In a Gen 2 vs. Gen 4, test, there is 3X improvement in the latency as we move to modern data types, for FP4. From Gen 4 to Gen 5, there was 100ms threshold. With Gen 6, we have 82ms improvement. We can run hefty models on the Xeon platform. We have 6.4X improvement from Gen 4 to Xeon 6.
Data is now your most valuable asset. Intel is working on confidential computing. We have the EU AI Act, and US Act. We have the Intel TDX. Confidential computing and AI are now available on the cloud with major CSPs. We are building a truly end-to-end confidential computing environment. This is a sweet spot for enterprise AI adoption.
Enterprises are also looking for cost-effective, high-performance enterprise AI training, and inferencing environments as well. They are turning to Intel’s Gaudi 2, which also has price performance advantages. Gaudi is an alternative to Nvidia H100 for training LLMs. We are seeing the acceleration of our Gaudi offering in 2024-25 and beyond.
UEC building AI fabrics
We are now bringing Xeon and Gaudi together. Customers are now asking for open ecosystem for AI connectivity. Ultra Ethernet Consortium (UEC) has the mission to deliver an Ethernet-based open, interoperable, high-performance, full-communications stack architecture to meet the growing network demands of AI and HPC at scale. Intel is among the steering members.
New leaders can capture the chiplet revolution
TechInsights, USA, organized a fireside chat today on the global semiconductor industry.
G. Dan Hutcheson, Vice Chair, TechInsights, said, the Chinese economy has been starting to recover now. We are also getting into a new PC up-cycle. Companies are also trying to move their centers of excellence to the other countries. We are seeing a normal upside right now. You do get some variation in supply over the period of 12 months. We are also moving into the 2nm era next year.
The magnificent seven for everybody includes: Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla, etc. Microsoft and Apple came out of the PC era. Amazon and Google came out in the 2000s. Nvidia came out of semiconductors. Tesla happened later. Apple is still riding on the smartphone. We also have the growing EV market. AI has also been emerging strong. However, AI stocks were worst performing among semiconductors stocks last week.
Nvidia has done a double lock-up recently. It has GPUs and whole system. They are re-architecting the way the data center works. Nvidia is, where it is today. We now need a new technology to be the next big thing. When Apple iPhone first came in, it started a new revolution. It always surprises you!
We will have new leaders in future. We will also see new leaders capturing the growing chiplet revolution. The foundries that exist would not have been possible without the EDA revolution. Chiplets have now emerged as the new revolution.
We have neural network processors already. We also have cellphone APUs. There are some really cool things coming that will help organizing your life, especially using the smartphone.
AI is seeing huge explosion in entrepreneurial pursuit. Several AI chip startups will be coming up. GPUs always had an innate advantage. GPUs chips were power hungry. We now need to partition that down to smaller parts. PCs had closed architecture partnership between Intel and Microsoft. We later saw the explosion of innovation around apps. AI is more of a curiosity right now. IBM used it to help physicians diagnose cancer. Today, it has become routine. AI solutions will take step forward, and bring real value.
China needs to catch up
As for domestic Chinese companies in AI, China is developing its own core technology. Taiwan has been incredibly successful as it has access to the global technologies. China also needs to do lot of classical innovation to get forward. Doing a lot of innovation can be very cultural. Silicon Valley is one example to follow. We are hoping that China can catch up, and get back to the order, and we can get back the global order.
AI will be used on chips to improve MCU/MPU performance. Synopsys is a world leader that enables all of that. We are also seeing new process technologies being developed. However, we still need the human intelligence to make all of this happen. AI, as a tool for engineers, may make them struggle. People were locked into their tools earlier. You have to be really good at using all the weapons at your disposal. If you don’t, you can be left behind. We are also going to go through another productivity surge in future
Regarding alternatives to silicon, he said that God was bullish on silicon. It has proved to be the best material. Today, we have substrates with specific functions. We have to get around the interconnect level. Data centers are migrating further down to the new chips. Quantum does replace it! However, it will co-exist with silicon.
Lead times are delivered largely by the complexity of the problem addressed. Today, we have about 2,000 process steps, but the lead time is still 12-13 weeks. We have to address complexity. We had the case of just-in-time. We may create disaster if we moved to just-in-case. Shrinking lead times requires you to decrease utilization. We saw lead times decrease to 60 percent, using utilization. Intel had increased utilization by increasing hot spots.
We also need to look at the supply chain. As we become more efficient, we may also be dealing with even more complexity. We cannot see that either happen, or decrease, in the forseeable future. Regarding NAND demand, we are witnessing the incoming demand, at least from data centers.
Japan getting back mojo!
Finally, which country can emerge as a semiconductor powerhouse? Japan is finally getting over lost decades. Japan is coming back certainly. It appears that Japan has got back its mojo after a long time. China is also going to grow. India has an advantage of cheap labor force. India may have difficulty in duplicating the success of software. It has advantages and disadvantages.
Japan and South Korea are much ahead right now. The US recovery is also taking place. Mexico is starting to rise. That’s driving new factories inside Mexico. Canada has a liberal immigration policy. Some of the best and brightest are present there. There is always opportunity. With technology, you need to run faster, work smarter, etc.
He hoped that everyone is safe in Taiwan, following the earthquake. Despite the severity of the tremors, the impact on Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing capacity appears to be limited. TSMC has done, and been doing incredible work in the future.
nVIDIA’s perfect storm!
This is a contribution from Malcolm Penn, Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Future Horizons, UK. Enjoy!
In what can only be described as a ‘right place, right time’ moment, nVIDIA’s stratospheric ascent over the past year has re-written chip-market history. The fuse was lit on 30 November 2022, when OpenAI unleashed an early demo of ChatGPT onto an unsuspecting world.
Overnight, this chatbot redefined the goalposts of artificial intelligence (AI), proving that machines can indeed “learn” the complexities of human language, interaction, context, nuance, and even humor. It quickly went viral on social media, as users shared examples of what it could do, anything from travel planning to writing pop songs and computer code.
In the first five days of its release, the app signed up over one million users it is now widely used across a variety of different industries, including:
- Customer service: to automate responses to common inquiries.
- Education: for creating personalized intelligent tutoring systems
- Content creation: everything from generating ideas to writing articles.
- Businesses: for generating draft emails or writing code.
- Healthcare: from clinical decision support, record-keeping, and analyzing medical literature.
- Entertainment: to generate video game storylines, movie scripts and dialogue.
It has also had a profound influence on the evolution of AI. In a deluge of hope, hype and hysteria not seen since the 2000 Dot-com boom, AI is upfront and center of every firm’s dream. No firm, however, has benefited more from this AI boom than nVIDIA.
The company’s share price has increased almost 400 percent since the start of 2023 and its market capitalization, at $1.8 trillion, has leapfrogged Alphabet, despite the fact its 2023 net income was greater than nVIDIA’s 2023 revenues, to become the third most valuable US company after Microsoft and Apple.
Right now, only a few brave souls dare to bet against nVIDIA’s market value rising further, as stock market investors swoon at dreams of an AI-overlord future.
Every firm has its day!
nVIDIA was founded in April 1993 by three American computer scientists: Jensen Huang, ex-LSI Logic and AMD; Chris Malachowsky, ex-Sun Microsystems; and Curtis Priem, ex-IBM and Sun Microsystems. Given their combined graphics and processor background, the startup’s focus was on the graphics-based computing and video game market.
Over the course of the next decade, nVIDIA was able to solidify its position as a formidable gaming console chip supplier with their pioneering graphics processing unit (GPU) technology. The world at that time was dominated by computer processing unit (CPU) devices, with Intel the then market leader and ARM just entering the fray, devices that were the heart of computational-driven tasks.
CPU-driven tasks needed ever faster and more complex processors whereas GPU’s task was to make movements and animations more realistic and natural. CPU devices were typically serial function structures whereas GPUs capitalized on doing lots of much simpler tasks in parallel, breaking down a single problem, like waving a hand, into several sub-parts, and then solving them simultaneously using multiple simple processors.
The firm’s focus on parallel computing technology not only helped nVIDIA recover from the Dot.Com market crash, but also helped launch the company’s leading position in a then-remote field of AI. Whether by luck, good fortune or forward-looking vision, the firm’s parallel processing technology was exactly the kind of computational speed and power performance that was needed to develop and run sophisticated AI applications.
In 2006, nVIDEA launched its Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) platform, a move that was to eventually prove a major innovation in GPU-based, parallel computing technology. But, it was not until 2022 that nVIDIA’s investment in AI paid off, once word got out that OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform was using 10,000 nVIDIA GPUs.
As a result, rival platforms clamored for nVIDIA chips, demand quickly far exceeded supply, and the price tag for what chips were available sky-rocketed, as did nVIDIA’s sales. nVIDIA’s share price likewise went through the roof as investors clamored to buy nVIDIA shares.
What next?
With year-to-date stock gains of close to 50 percent, dwarfing the 5 percent S&P 500 index rise, the industry has run out of superlatives to describe the AI chip juggernaut.
Part of nVIDIA’s appeal is also the euphoria surrounding AI, as firms scramble to identify the opportunities to establish their own AI capabilities, either to improve their market position or operate their businesses more efficiently. However, very few companies, particularly from an enterprise perspective, can realistically say where they want to be for widespread use, a position that is pre-requisite for AI to demonstrate it is more than just hype.
The future of nVIDIA lies in its continued ability to bring innovative hardware and software solutions to market to underpin its current dominant position in GPUs and its potentially transformative impact on AI moving forward. Clearly, the firm is no slouch when it comes to innovation and, equally clearly, it has an impressive lead over its traditional semiconductor competitors.
It takes a minimum two years to design and bring to market a chip of this complexity so, even if wannabe competitors had started right away, there is still a further year to wait until the first o the new products show up on the market and a further four to six months in wafer fab before the first production volumes are shipped.
Given its first mover advantage, by that time nVIDIA will have released two more enhanced generation versions of its current roadmap of parts. Playing catch up with a market leader is never a nice place to be. At best, it is two steps forward and one and a half steps back.
That said, AMD, nVIDIA’s most formidable semiconductor competitor, was already well underway with its ‘go for nVIDIA’ strategy, the first fruits of this being its MI300 chip. Launched last December, 153 billion transistor chip boasts 192 gigabytes of memory with a memory bandwidth of 5.3 terabytes per second, about 2.0, 2.4 and 1.6 times respectively more than the top-of-the-line H100 AI chip from nVIDIA.
Impressive as that may be, nVIDIA’s lead in software might be much harder to address. It has been investing in CUDA since the mid-2000s and AI developers love the way the platform allows them to fine-tune the GPU’s performance. AMD is banking on breaking nVIDIA’s stranglehold here by making its competitive ROCM software platform open-source and providing tools to translate CUDA programs into ROCM.
Watch out behind?
The bigger competitive threat, however, might not be from the likes of AMD, but from nVIDIA’s hi-tech customers. These tech giants, from Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, are all busily designing their own AI accelerator chips, desperate to escape from nVIDIA’s dominant market position that is allowing it to charge sky-high prices and ration chip supply.
These chips are also tailor-made for the task in hand, offering even greater performance and cost saving at the end system level, a practice that has stood Apple in such good stead with its self-designed iPhone chips. Once that transition is made, there is no recovery, and these OEM customers will never come back.
The only way is down?
At risk of raining on the parade, we believe there are two areas of risk. First the current AI hype and potential over-investment has all of the echoes of the 2000 Dot.com boom and bust and now, just as then, no-one will believe a bust is coming or foresee what will trigger it. In any event, the tech transformations always take years longer than suggested by euphoric record share prices. And, when a tech CEO asks for trillions, not billions, when raising funds for an AI chip project, you know, deep down in your heart of hearts, that the sector may be getting a little bit too hot.
Second, the current market valuation euphoria defies market rationale. According to back-of-the-envelope calculations by tech-focused analysts at Chameleon Capital Holdings Ltd asset management firm, nVIDIA’s valuation implies the company maintains its monopolist-like operating profit margin of 55 percent for the next decade, whilst simultaneously growing sales ten-fold, from its current $60 billion level to more than $600 billion.
To put that into context, the entire chip industry sold $527 billion in 2023, a figure that is forecast to grow to $1.4 trillion by 2034. Granted nVIDIA did achieve this level of growth over the past decade, but that was from a much lower $4 billion level of sales. Its current level of profitability is a very recent phenomenon related to the very high prices pushed through in response to overwhelming demand and product shortages.
Previous profit levels ranged from 12 to 37 percent, nowhere near the steady 55 percent level needed. For the good times to keep rolling, the law of large numbers must cease to apply, and competition, innovation, and pricing pressure will not come to bear, until at least the mid-2030s.
Living legend
nVIDIA deserves its well-earned ‘right place, right time’ moment. It has been 30 years in the making, and chip industry history thrives on legendary moments like these. In the long run, AI will undoubtedly transform many industries and the way people work, but the road to this end goal is currently shrouded in a fog of euphoric hype and hysteria.
AI is also not a product per se, like an iPhone or laptop, and you cannot log into Amazon or Etsy and buy an AI. Arguably, products like ChatGPT are more Artificial Plagiarism than Intelligence!
It is, however, a key enabling technology that will both make current products better and smarter, and enable new products that were previously impossible with the then levels of technology. That is what the chip industry does best, and that is what has driven the past 70 years of growth. But, no chip market has ever taken off based on a $40,000 IC!
Energy and digital are going together: Masters of Digital 2024
There a panel discussion around Europe 2030: A Digital Powerhouse, at the ongoing Masters of Digital 2024 in Brussels, Belgium.
The participants were: Renate Nikolay, Deputy Director General, DG CNECT, European Commission, Eva Maydell, Member, European Parliament, Mathieu Michel, Secretary of State for Digitalization, Belgium, Ann Mettler, VP, Europe, Breakthrough Energy, Mohd. Sijelmassi, CTO, Sopra Steria, and Peter Koerte, Chief Technology and Chief Strategy Officer, Siemens AG. Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General, DIGITALEUROPE, was the moderator.
Bonefeld-Dahl said Europe has had many issues. Digital has come up as a major solution. 20 percent of recovery fund went to digital. What are the next steps to take? How have you managed to stay in the business so far?
Peter Koerte, Siemens AG, said technology has been transforming and making our lives better. 170 years ago, there was electrification. We are now seeing software-defined hardware. Digitalization has been a really disruptive force for all the industries. There is much more to come! In AI and GenAI, we need to rethink how we can become faster to drive that.
Mathieu Michel, Belgium, said that he is in love with the single market. We are seeing implementation getting speeded up. This is a big opportunity to work with member states. We need to know our main message for the next five years. We currently work too much in silos. The main priority will be perhaps, to build a common governance across Europe. AI Act can be a way to tackle innovation and implementation. It is the way that we can implement the regulation. We also need to work on our skills. We need to build skills, attract skills, and maintain skills.
Renate Nikolay, European Commission, said that we are not yet on track to be digital powerhouse by 2030. Some are however, envious of our AI Act. Digital transformation is quite significant for the EU. Chips Act is also a unifying progress. We have now given ourselves targets for achieving goals. We hope the EID or E-Wallet should give us a boost. We are also not yet there regarding connectivity.
Mohd. Sijelmassi, Sopra Steria, said a non-native has become digital, such as Siemens. Now, companies need to understand technology better. There are some risks, but we need to transform. Next, we have need for skills everywhere. We should understand what the technology brings, and be able to work around. Eg., we need to see additional capabilities that are needed in the cloud. We need more injection of digital awareness.
Eva Maydell, European Parliament, said we need to get back to place for big ideas. We are going back to single market creation. We need to approach this in the next term. We also need to maintain trust in democracies. Citizens are content if things work. We need to consolidating and even deregulating existing rules. We need to bridge the gap between geopolitical and other sectors. Everyone feels the need to look ahead differently. We need to go beyond traditional mechanisms. We need to have big ideas.
Ann Mettler, Breakthrough Energy, said we still need to use digital to the full extent. The innovation takes place at the intersection of different technologies. Energy and digital are going together. AI is already being used in the energy system. Future iterations of AI should be more energy intensive. EU now, is an energy-poor geography. China and UAE have ambitious AI strategies, and also have energy prowess.
We also see energy efficiency doubling. We need to do so using all digital technologies at our disposal. Companies are worried about the high price of energy. We need to help companies, and help rebuild.
We also upgraded from 4G to 5G in an un-strategic manner. We now need to be strategic. We need to think of the power system and energy system for the future. She also added simplicity, to speed, scale, and solidarity.
Where does EU lead?
So, where does EU actually lead? Peter Koerte, Siemens AG, said technology has to be simple to implement. We make customers more energy efficient. There are RoIs, as well. You can run multiple scenarios. We can now bring industries to life, and make them more competitive. Edge computing is one area to look at. We also have a lot of data. We can make that easy to use for SMEs. We have a pick-and-place robots, or cobots. We need these things also across Europe.
Mathieu Michel, Belgium, noted that we have been working in silos so far. Europe needs to break away from that. AI Act can also help. We also need to develop skills. We need to adapt to the educational skills that are needed for the future. We can build more agility, and identify more skilled people.
Renate Nikolay, European Commission, stated when we look at virtual worlds, we have industrial sectors with untapped potential. Data Act will help access to data. AI Act will facilitate AI apps. We need to have digital twins for all the verticals. We need to have alliances between public-private, and Europe-wide. We need to create excellence centers, and scale to the next level. If we bring in connectivity, that will be a new deal for much bigger productive gains for Europe.
Mohd. Sijelmassi, Sopra Steria, said when you do AI, we have to avoid bias. We are working on that. There should be more diversity. We need to have trustworthy systems. We can probably share this knowledge. We also need to see how we are pushing quantum computer startups. Some are taking money also from USA, besides Europe.
Eva Maydell, European Parliament, said people are using ChatGPT today. Companies are also seeing what advancements they can do with their products. We can think of numerous ways to use AI. We must continue improving livelihoods. We need to continue supporting countries such as Belarus and Ukraine.
Ann Mettler, Breakthrough Energy, said emerging clean technologies were needed to replace Russian gas supplies, once the war began. We are spending over $400 billion subsidizing fossil fuels. How can we expect anyone to follow sanctions if we do this? We need to get off Russian fossil energy. We need to zero into emerging technologies. Next, we need to lower cost of energy transition, using digital. We are decarbonizing through decentralization. A decentralized energy system allows for more optimal use of renewable energy, as well as combined heat and power, that reduces fossil fuel use and increases eco-efficiency.
Semiconductors will play an important role in future: Alexander de Croo, PM, Belgium, Masters of Digital 2024
Masters of Digital 2024 was held today in Brussels, Belgium. Its theme was Europe 2030: A digital powerhouse.
We are shaping the future of Europe’s technology landscape, and will provide a platform for policymakers, industry leaders, and experts to discuss and chart the course for Europe’s digital transformation and the path towards 2030.
Under the theme “Europe 2030: A Digital Powerhouse”, Masters of Digital delved into the profound impact of AI and emerging technologies on Europe’s economy, society, and sustainability. The conference explored the transformative potential of digital innovation in fostering economic growth, driving digital and green transition, and ensuring Europe’s global competitiveness.
The European single market, a pillar of European unity, stands at a critical juncture. The 30-year marriage needs an urgent revival to keep up with the digital age. Whilst digital technology fuels economies, and solves societal problems, persistent roadblocks within the single market hamper its potential to become a digital powerhouse, as we stated in our manifesto. Today, only 10 out of the top 100 tech companies are European, and only 8% of SMEs are trading across one European border.
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General, DIGITALEUROPE, welcomed everyone. Imagine if we had a PM who was also responsible for digital! She introduced the Belgium PM.
Alexander de Croo, Prime Minister, Belgium, delivered the opening keynote speech. We just had big agricultural manifestations throughout last week. We had a summit on heavy industry. I have just returned from a security conference. Today, the world has become way more geopolitical and hostile. We are adapting, and making our economy stronger. We are integrating our policies with each other. Powers are also putting pressure on us. EU single market is a single unique development. We regulate quite well, but do it a lot. We need to add few more carrots to the mix.
We now have a great opportunity to set the agenda for the next 10 years. Competitiveness will form a broad part of that. Yesterday, it was said that chemistry is the mother of all industries. Today, we are talking about digital and the power of AI. When our societies were taking shape in the past, a historian looked at different factors. First, geographical location and access to trade routes. Today, we need to be a hub and have connectivity. We have fallen a bit behind today. We have invested a bit less in fiber. We are now catching up. We are also seeing other major challenges across Europe. Connectivity is the number one element to adopt.
Second, economic agenda! Europe is fueled through SMEs. EU single market is a big asset. However, it has not fully adapted. Today, we are not meeting data localization. The capital market is also not up to date. If we need scale up capital, it is coming from Anglo-Saxon finance. Approximately 2 percent of our GDP is flowing out to the USA. We are losing out on that dimension. We need to create a European Capital Market Union.
Third, we have protection and security. It remains important these days. Cyber attacks are happening all the time. Belgium is a top country for cyber security. As Europeans, we need to work much more closely together, now, and in future. Fourth is government. Eg., in GDPR, we looked at how it is being implemented. How do we better integrate regulators? There are missing parts of benefits. Same goes for AI Act. Lot of industries look at regulating AI. We need to be as open as possible for innovation. We also need to be transparent and strict during implementation.
Fifth, a skilled and dynamic workforce. Spain has spent time in developing skills during Covid-19. Belgium has BeCentral. It has open space for private and government sectors to play for the education. We also need to incentivize and push innovation.
As EU, we have done it quite well, especially with the EU Chips Act. We looked at the real centers of competence. It is spread across Fraunhofer, Germany, Leti, France, and imec, Belgium. How can we pool the other industries into chip design? Semiconductors will play an important role across all industries in the future. We need to pull more people into fundamental research.
In the digital world, there are many domains where we have many challenges. We can play an important role in the future. Our strengths are: our talent, diversity, working together, and economic development. The best is yet to come! Let’s show the world what we are capable of as Europeans!
EU needs to accelerate adoption
Hilary Mine, President, DIGITALEUROPE, and VP, Strategy & Technology, Nokia, stated we have been very fortunate with the impact on body politics. We have published our manifesto recently. We propose 20 solutions on how to get there. We are supporting digital skills, connectivity, AI, etc. Covid-19 gave a huge jump to online services. Two-thirds of companies are now using ICT to reduce carbon.
We are still a bit behind USA, and Asia, across connectivity. On tech adaptation, we need to accelerate our adoption. We also have a lot to do to scale up our businesses. Digital transformation of key sectors — health, finance, and energy, need to be scaled up. We need to do this by 2030 by taking the bull by the horns. We have the EU single market. We have to look at what companies have to go through to scale up. Digital Europe believes in Europe’s potential. The best is yet to come!
Resilient Europe by 2030
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General, DIGITALEUROPE, said that we want to be become a resilient Europe by 2030. We need to partner with the like minds. We need to accelerate that, and become a digital powerhouse in future. We also need to look inwards. So far, only 8 percent of companies have adopted AI. We need to increase this much more. We are now digitalizing industries. We have a major role to play as industry leaders to improve the resilience of our internal markets.
We have a lot of regulation ahead. We now need to scale up and innovate our businesses. We have fragmented procurement systems as well. It is difficult to get into other countries’ procurement systems. Companies need to scale up and enter new markets. In education, we need to change the curriculum much faster. We also need to be a continent of creators. Only 6 percent of investment today goes to AI in Europe. We need to develop skills, data, solidarity, as fast as possible.
How can we measure success? Let’s say, 20 percent of big tech companies come out of Europe. Besides having publications, we also need businesses on the ground. There are 8 percent of unicorns in Europe. Our target is 20 percent. 8 percent SMEs are selling across one border. We need that to go up to 30 percent. Today, 8 percent of EU companies are using AI, as against 50 percent in USA, and 70 percent across Asia. We need to scale that up to 75 percent.
We have the EU single market love story. There are 10 digital actions needed to save the 30-year marriage. Member states now need to do things in one single way! The road to competitiveness is ahead. We need to stand up with critical technology skills of the future, and build the right competencies. We need speed, scale, and solidarity. We will be able to create the digital powerhouse.
AI Executive Order report card: Reviewing the first 90 days
Last year, October 30, 2023, the Biden Administration, USA, had issued a call to action outlining a host of requirements and deliverables for US government agencies on artificial intelligence. The executive order touched on a range of AI-relevant issues, including testing and evaluation of new AI systems, developing a healthy and capable US AI workforce, and ensuring US competitiveness in the years to come.
Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) researchers discussed what the US Government has accomplished so far, what have we learned, and what’s left to do to complete the EO’s ambitious goals.
The speakers were: Dr. Heather Frase, Senior Fellow, CSET, Jack Corrigan, Senior Research Analyst, CSET, and Luke Koslosky, Research Analyst, CSET. Dr. Margarita Konaev, Deputy Director of Analysis and Research Fellow, CSET, was the moderator.
Executive Order
The Executive Order directed a sweeping range of actions within 90 days to address some of AI’s biggest threats to safety and security. To mitigate these and other risks, agencies have:
- Used Defense Production Act authorities to compel developers of the most powerful AI systems to report vital information, especially AI safety test results, to the Department of Commerce.
- Proposed a draft rule that proposes to compel U.S. cloud companies that provide computing power for foreign AI training to report that they are doing so.
- Completed risk assessments covering AI’s use in every critical infrastructure sector.
Over the past 90 days, agencies have:
- Launched a pilot of the National AI Research Resource—catalyzing broad-based innovation, competition, and more equitable access to AI research, managed by the US National Science Foundation (NSF).
- Launched an AI Talent Surge to accelerate hiring AI professionals across the federal government, including through a large-scale hiring action for data scientists. TheAI and Tech Talent Task Force created by President Biden’s E.O. has spearheaded this hiring action, and is coordinating other key initiatives to facilitate hiring AI talent.
- Began the EducateAI initiative to help fund educators creating high-quality, inclusive AI educational opportunities at the K-12 through undergraduate levels.
- Announced the funding of new Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines), including with a focus on advancing AI.
- Established an AI Task Force at the Department of Health and Human Services to develop policies to provide regulatory clarity and catalyze AI innovation in healthcare.
What’s happened so far?
Dr. Heather Frase said that that you tend to look at high-level tests that you do. We also have work in standards and benchmarking. Jack Corrigan noted that we have looked at many provisions of AI governance. There is also push for regulating AI deployed in critical infrastructure. NIST management framework is being used. There is interest from the government in promoting R&D, along with increasing the competition in the market.
Luke Koslosky added the scale and ambition is very huge. We have simulation and international approval. Next, we have AI workforce and education. We also have impact of AI, especially on labor. We have the increasing AI workforce as well.
Dr. Margarita Konaev, said we have talked about scale and ambition. AI is going to impact everything in our society. What are the areas that may have been missed? Dr. Heather Frase said there are directives to make plans. A lot of safety measures and processes further need to be implemented. Corrigan noted that ton of stuff is related to AI governing. We need to understand there are few provisions to technological development in the EO. Government has ceded development of technology to private sector. It’s a relatively new space. Development cycles should not get slowed down. We need to have agencies look at ways to regulate development of this technology.
Luke Koslosky added we are talking about AI talent. You have to include non-technical talent in some way. EO does mention the AI-enabling talent. Non-technical talent should also be involved. We also have the higher education act, immigration, etc., among areas to look at.
Dr. Margarita Konaev said we have to look at what is an EO actually legally capable of doing. How is the implementation progressing right now? Are we moving in the right direction? Luke Koslosky said there are 38 provisions. 11 have already been included. 25 are still in progress, and two are getting finalized. AI.gov has also been launched for job opportunities, etc. There are already 2300 applicants. Direct authority has been granted for AI rules. Experts are being brought in to help in implementation. EducateAI initiative has also been launched.
Jack Corrigan noted, what has happened so far, is quite promising. Critical infrastructure folks submitted there risk assessment queries within 90 days. We should have some kind of binding regulation for AI by end of 2025 or early 2026. EO tasked Trade Commission for developing the structure of the market. FTC is also looking at the partnerships between cloud computing companies and AI developers. Regulations are also ways to incentivize.
Dr. Heather Frase said NIST is pulling in lot of AI assessment groups. AI Safety Consortium has also been formed. We need a budget guidance. That can impact the government purchasing, lab designations, etc.
Luke Koslosky added that we are also looking to provide certifications. They can be used to either move laterally and upward within a company. We are still deciding what are good certificates. We also need to recognize the need for talent. They should also have developed something for themselves.
International partners, data governance
Dr. Margarita Konaev, said working with international partners is also very important. What is their role in achieving aims of the EO? Dr. Heather Frase said that we have an alignment of standards. We have to go around slightly different standards across countries. Then, we will have a resource problem. Jack Corrigan noted there should be some need for regulating AI within the USA. EU has taken lot of steps in regulating AI. We can look at EU and their base of success. We can comply with regulations of countries.
Dr. Margarita Konaev, said data and data governance are also important. Dr. Heather Frase said we need to do much more. There are efforts from different departments of the government. We also need to look at training data. Agencies have long-standing efforts for dealing with data quality issues. There are people looking into this. We also need to look what open source datasets are good.
Dr. Margarita Konaev, said the government has ceded technological development to the private sector. Corrigan noted the private sector has been outspending government in R&D. The big four — Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta — spent about $170 billion in R&D in 2022. Government is not really focusing on AI innovation, and left that to private sector. EO recognizes that the private sector is the epicenter of AI development. EO should focus on competition, regulations, etc.
Dr. Margarita Konaev, said we have agencies who are in the process of implementing regulations. Dr. Heather Frase said medical tools are already there with AI. Banking has been using AI models for long, as also air transportation. Jack Corrigan noted we have critical infrastructure regulators who are also working.
Visa reforms
There are visa reforms for high-skilled AI talent in progress. Do we also need to know computer science to work in AI? Luke Koslosky said there are bipartisan agreements going on. We need to have more work in that area. We also don’t need to know computer science deeply to work. You can learn lot of concepts. You can get jobs in the industry, academia. Dr. Heather Frase added that we need both types of workers. You need to also know coding. It can be very useful in the process. Coding can also be very useful for policy analysis.
Dr. Margarita Konaev, said how is AI education going to happen in the USA? Koslosky said we have agencies who can provide training tools. NSF can have tools and programs in place. AI Literacy Act is in the House. That would allow funding for further programs.
Dr. Margarita Konaev, said what are we going to be watching over the next 90 days? Dr. Heather Frase said we need to see guidance release, see whether there is anything about contracting. Luke Koslosky added we need to keep the momentum up in future. We have a tracker that notes what’s getting done. We also need to keep an eye on hiring for AI roles. Is it only data scientists, or more expansive. Jack Corrigan noted we should also be following more critical infrastructure regulations. Understanding how to do correct AI governance is going to be very important.
CSET has broken down the EO, focusing on specific government deliverables. Its EO Provision and Timeline tracker lists agencies that are responsible for actioning the EO provisions and their deadlines.
How can AI and semiconductors drive innovation and productivity?
Semiconductors are critical to the functioning of the modern world driving economic competitiveness, national security, and technologies ranging from modern defense capabilities to autonomous vehicles. AI and hardware used in this platform are impacting how the world will use information to increase productivity. Semiconductors used in these platforms are instrumental to its functionality and are the backbone behind advancements in these technologies.
Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), USA, organized a conference today on how AI and semiconductors will drive innovation and productivity. The participants were Jerry Chen, Senior Manager, HPC Business Unit, Nvidia, Ramine Roane, Corporate VP of AI, AMD, and Stelios Diamantidis, Head of Artificial Intelligence Strategy in the Office of the President, Synopsys. The session was moderated by Robert Casanova, Director of Industry Statistics and Economy Policy, SIA.
Generative AI leads
Jerry Chen, Nvidia, said there has been focus on best-in-class tools. Synopsys and others have been on the journey with us. We have also announced partnerships with TSMC and Synopsys, recently. Nvidia has been on a journey of accelerated computing for over two decades. With generative AI, we have been in a journey for last 10-15 years. There are ways of harvesting data for making predictions. Generative AI is a genesis of all foundational technologies we have been building on. We are just beginning. Many of the tools are fantastic.
Nvidia and others have been investing in multiple technologies. These include animation, audio, video, DNA, molecule, etc. The world’s most valuable companies need custom generative AI models. Those can be used across Internet, luxury, energy, consumer and retail, sectors, etc. Generative AI is heralding a new computing era.
One of the biggest challenges of AI is the validity of its results. The output of AI needs to be correct and relevant. Nvidia, and customers and partners, have seen and productized AI technologies and data science best practices, and delivered results that are either correct as-is, and/or provide a co-pilot guide for human operators to improve their productivity.
Addressing AI challenges
Ramine Roane, AMD, said AI is very wide in definition. It refers to deep learning today. AI challenges include More than Moore, endpoint to cloud, sustainability, and safety, bias, and compliance. Specifically, exponential compute and data growth post Moore, hardware architecture scaling battery-powered to cloud, the imperative of higher performance/watt, and safe and permissible data, model, and software. AMD has AI platforms and AI hardware portfolio, such as CDNA (+Zen), XDNA, Zen, and Zen +RDNA +XDNA architectures.
Software has to be free and open, to support bias and compliance issues. AMD has Open AI software stack. AMD is also powering edge to cloud AI. It is across aerospace, automotive, healthcare, industrial, communications, smart PCs, data centers, supercomputers, etc.
He gave a real-world application in automotive. AI is used for forward-looking camera, infotainment, ADAS/AD domain controller, Lidar and radar, surround view, parking, etc. Today, technology advancements are boosting AI. Advanced packaging has chiplets and 3D integration. They lead to increased compute and SRAM density, expanded HBM capacity, and product agility, and improved yield.
We can address the AI challenges. For More than More, using domain-specific architecture (DSA) for AI workloads. For endpoint to cloud, we can scale diverse DSA variations, and optimization points. For sustainability, we can have leadership energy efficiency via chiplet and 3D integration. Finally, we can develop an open ecosystem and open-source community.
Mandating new innovations
Stelios Diamantidis, Synopsys, said we live in an era of smart everything. Industrial will lead in 2025, followed by automotive and home IoT. Models are outpacing Moore’s Law. AI training compute CAGR 2012-21 was 694 percent. Generative AI is further pushing limits of compute. We are having accelerated evolution of compute. There will be exponential growth in energy requirements.
Synopsys is now mandating new innovations. There are technomic ‘push’ engines, as well. These include planar, FinFET, nanosheet, and CFET in the angstorm era. We are today in the multi-die era, leading to SysMoore.
System complexity is also helping innovation. We are moving from CAD to EDA, to EDA.ai. Manufacturing challenges became more integrated, leading to fusion. We are now observing AI/ML come into play. The step forward is design space optimization.
We are now seeing design space exploration, with Fusion Compiler. DSO.ai or AI-grade productivity is here. We can get best DSO result found by designers. He also talked about Synopsys’ journey. DSO.ai, the world’s first AI app for chip design, was introduced in 2020. It is the world’s first autonomous AI application for chip design. A transformational technology, DSO.ai has been adopted by 9 of top-10 semiconductor companies worldwide, and has scaled well past 200 commercial tape-outs. In 2023, Synopsys introduced VSO.ai, or verification space optimization.
There are trends impacting silicon testing. In 2020, we had new markets and low DPPM. With TSO.ai, or test space optimization, we can get best test results. We are leading the road to AI in chip design. DSO is optimizing outcomes to improve decisions. In future, there will be smart assistants giving recommendations, explaun design debug, NL intefaces, etc. Future will see generative designs. We will be provided with design collaterals, etc.
IFA Berlin 2023 promises to be huge this year!
The world has changed and the importance of the trade show as buying platform has declined! At a press conference, Oliver Merlin, MD / Geschäftsführer of IFA Management GmbH, said that the strength of IFA is immense! It is the best trade show in the world for consumer electronics and home appliances.
For IFA trading, the customer geo split is spread across participation from 44 countries so far, for 2023. Germany 21 percent and China 12 percent represent a third of the IFA 2023 customer base. IFA 2023 has already exceeded the 2022 show in both number of exhibitors and space allocated. New customers to IFA are projected to account for 30 percent of the overall exhibition and sponsorship revenue in 2023.
The current terrain plan includes audio, communication and connectivity, computing and gaming, fitness and digital health, global markets, home and entertainment, household appliances, IFA Next, image and video, mobility, robotics hub, and sustainability village. Visitor registration is now live!
New features galore
IFA is working closely with all the major retailer and buying groups to ensure broad participation from the buying and retailing community. We have put together a curated program for the retailers, so they can maximize their time at the show. The retailer is the king! We are working with the entire retailer ecosystem to build the most comprehensive platform for buyers and sellers in home appliances and consumer electronics.
There are new features and content. Some are IFA Leaders Summit, Gaming and eSports Arena, Sustainability Village, House of Robots, Digital Content, and IFA Next.
IFA Leaders Summit is an exclusive main stage, where the most influential figures in the industry will come together to explore the most critical and meaningful topics that are shaping consumer electronics and home appliances today. They range from technologists, innovators, and inventors to retail executives, thought leaders, and influencers. They will talk about latest developments in next-gen tech, the future of smart homes, IoT trends, AI-powered devices, robotics, cloud gaming, the changing face of retail, and much more.
Generative AI
IFA 2023 will look at the promise and potential of the generative AI. AI has become all pervasive with applications ranging from predictive analytics to robotics, AI has become one of the most critical topics for 2023. As AI continues to evolve from simply analyzing existing data to now being able to create new text, images, and videos, it raises questions about how this development will shape the debate between augmentation vs. automation.
The launch of ChatGPT, the intelligent chatbot , has shown that generative AI is set to have implications for several industries as it gives them access to more sophisticated tools.
Fight for global chip supremacy
There is the technology arms race, and the fight for global chip supremacy going on! Today, semiconductor chips are the backbone of new technologies and innovations. Chips are at the core of AI, quantum computing, nanotechnology, self driving cars and much more.
However, producing them is an incredibly complex and high stakes endeavor. Only a few companies are trusted to make them, something that was highlighted by the global shortage that is exacerbated by the pandemic. Chips are now a key arena of geopolitical competition.
Sustainability Village first time!
This year, IFA 2023 will, for the first time, welcome a dedicated Sustainability Village with its own onsite ‘mend and repair shop’ tackling e-waste, a comprehensive conference program (forum) on sustainability best practices, a dedicated exhibitor area and networking focused on connecting sustainability leaders with the wider IFA community.
Top themes include European Commission legislation, with new legislation being implemented with the ‘Right to Repair’ proposal, a touchpoint in 2030 on progress with the European Green Deal, and Germanys new Supply Chain Act. It means that companies must now act to be compliant.
Global supply chains are a key area when it comes to the reduction of carbon emissions for this sector. This area provides opportunity to review the manufacturing process, transportation and returns from end to end.
Circular Economy and E-waste is another area manufacturers are getting increasing involved in as part of a sustainability strategy, companies are increasingly offering a recycling facility for broken/unwanted technology to prolong the life of a device instead of throwing it away.
We will look at Smart Homes technology, and what this means for sustainability, energy bills that have exploded exponentially. This tech has been accelerated in popularity and focus. The main issues are in the implementation to ensure that the different devices can ‘speak’ to one another, and maximize energy consumption efficiently. Understanding and meeting customers increasing expectations on sustainability is also there. Customers now expect products to be manufactured ethically, and for companies to operate as sustainably as possible.
House of Robots too!
This year we are establishing an exclusive Robotics Hub as a new zone at IFA. This zone will include the House of Robots as an immersive experience. The world’s most advanced robots are joining the House of Robots as confirmed residents, these include Desi (social robot) by SingularityNET and Mirokai (social robot) by Enchanted Tools (Robotics startup).
Desdemona aka Desi is a humanoid robot and the lead vocalist of the Jam Galaxy Band. Created and built by David Hanson, and programmed by Ben Goertzel, Desi is the younger sister of the Sophia robot and part of the SingularityNET ecosystem. Desi uses AI to write her own lyrics, sings and she is also a DJ!
Mirokaï is part of a ground-breaking new species of service robots created by Enchanted Tools. ET is addressing worker shortages in essential sectors like healthcare. ET is composed by a team of 50 mechatronics and AI experts. It is led by Jérôme Monceaux, former EVP at Aldebaran/Softbank Robotics, and co creator of robots Nao and Pepper.
And, IFA Next
The innovation zone of IFA will be bigger and better than ever this year. The startup hub at IFA located in Hub 27 is the heart of innovation at the event. It will unveil the newest and most innovative technology in the industry, and will be bigger and better than ever. 500+ startups are bringing future technology to life. Corporate innovation labs will showcase newest technology. There will be dedicated content to help startups grow and expand their brands.
To dramatically increase the scale and develop the proposition of IFA Next, we have partnered with international experts and local heroes. The Next Web, based in Amsterdam, is a leading innovation and startup organization running conferences, a media platform and innovation and startup consultancy. They employ 25 startup scouts! They will be focusing on startup participation, content agenda, networking activities and production values of the zone.
Another is Berlin Start up Night! At the heartbeat of startups in Berlin, this partnership will deliver an even stronger offering onsite in terms of scale and participation of startups. They will also host the famous B SUN night showcasing the top talents and an awards ceremony. We will also have the Berlin Tech Week. The purpose of this festival is to create a legacy within the city, and to connect the global consumer tech community in Berlin. Our aim for IFA is to amplify the event as ‘THE place to be for tech and innovation.’
IFA Management has recruited Ms. Cornelia (Conny) Schwobe. She will be playing a pivotal role in guiding IFA’s growth and direction in multiple areas, such as AI, eMobility, metaverse, and more.
We are also working with the City of Berlin with Berlin Partners, Visit Berlin, and the Berlin Convention Office to increase IFA’s visibility and presence across the city at tourist offices, airports, stations and iconic city locations to turn the city red and create a buzz around the town. Asia Berlin Week is a partnership that integrates the BerlinTechWeek brand into the Asia Berlin Summit taking place at City Hall Berlin on 12-13 June. IFA has also joined the Berlin Partner Start up delegation at London Tech Week, which runs from 12-16 June.
Innovation Media Briefing (IMB) will return on 5-6 July in Berlin.
PS: The Indian wrestlers’ plight is unbearable. Someone, please do something about this, please! Ensure that justice gets delivered!
Frontiers in AI/ML research and innovation
Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), USA, organized a session on frontiers in artificial intelligence and machine learning research and innovation today.
Rep. Jerry McNerney, Co-Chair of the Congressional Artificial Intelligence (AI) Caucus, is involved with AI in the Congress. It has generated significant interest. It also becomes important to address the use of AI. The AI and Government Act facilitates the adoption of AI within the government. Agencies can share their best practices. Last month, the Consumer Act was passed. We have a priority in Congress to mitigate the risk of bias in AI. We need to take proper sets being taken to train these systems. Sufficient testing is done before they are deployed. Next, R&D in AI requires collaboration between the government and private players. More investment will clearly be needed.
Dr. Chad Jenkins, Associate Director of UG Program, Prof. Computer Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, USA, gave the introductory remarks. There is the AI path for past, present and the future. Initially, it was introductory. Later, the first AI-based model came about. But, the models were very slow. We saw the second wave of AI and rise of deep learning. It has allowed us to see all sorts of things, such as facial imaging. The systems are unpredictable, though they are accurate and fast. Driverless cars showed the limits of today’s AI. This gave rise to the third wave, which was explainable. AI was now accurate, fast, and accountable. It was also ethical, fair, adaptable, and climate sustainable. There are models to drive decisions. Federal investment is critical for success for the next wave of AI.
There was a panel discussion featuring Dr. Blaise Aguera y Arcas, VP, Google Research, Dr. Ms. Talitha Washington, Inaugural Director, Atlanta University Center Data Science Initiative, Prof. of Mathematics, Clark Atlanta University, Dr. John R. Smith, IBM Fellow, AI Tech, IBM Research AI, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, and Dr. Court Corley, Chief Data Scientist and Group Leader, Data Sciences and Analytics Group, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. It was moderated by Ms. Anita Nikolich, Director of Research and Technology Innovation, and Research Scientist, University of Illinois.
It was moderated by Ms. Anita Nikolich, Director of Research and Technology Innovation, and Research Scientist, University of Illinois.
Dr. Court Corley, PNNL, talked about AI driving innovation. We have a unique place in the ecosystem. AI for science, co-design algorithms for hardware, and learning for data, are three areas. AI for science has laws for making algorithms more useful. There are new developments in deep learning. Algorithms and hardware are being used to solve challenges. Most AI models rely on deep learning. Apps don’t have access to massive amounts of data. Researchers are developing new methods to deliver meaningful results.
Dr. Blaise Aguera y Arcas, Google said there have been Google’s investments. Google is one of the largest research labs. We invested $27 billion in 2020. AI/ML is a collective research project. Speed of progress is because of the openness. One project is federated learning that combines AI with privacy. Learing happens in a decentralized way. Google does not see any data. Apple is also using federated learning, as well. Deep Lab is used by research processors all over the world. It is useful of animal behavior. Lambda, a language model, is a compelling step toward AI. You can carry out dialogs. You may get an amazing and spooky feeling. There are vast amount of resources provided by the government. Their investment is very important in AI.
Dr. John R. Smith, IBM, said they have been leaders in technology. It is playing a leading role in developing and deploying AI. We created the first chess computer in 1997, who beat the then reigning champion. Government investment in research has played key role in Watson Jeopardy system. We also continue to pursue foundational work. We need to combine data and reasoning. We need foundation of trust for AI capabilities. Government investment is critical.
Dr. Ms. Talitha Washington, AUC, said we need diversity to be strong to hold on to technology. We cannot leave out important talent. Blacks and browns have been constant contributors. We cannot miss the creativity. We need to have more diversity in development of technology. China seems to have more STEM graduates than the USA. We have lot of untapped resources in the USA. We can develop AI/ML for greater good. At AUC, we are working hard for AI. We can build AI expertise and programs. Continued investment must continue to develop diverse talent.
Scalable, assured AI
Dr. Court Corley added there are more frontiers. AI can be scalable and assured. We can tackle grand challenges. This requires new approaches to build models. We can learn from multiple senses and forms of data. For assurance, we are driving assured AI systems. We need more trustworthy and reliable AI. We can also translate basic research advances. We can accelerate drug discovery, etc.
Dr. Blaise Aguera y Arcas agreed, saying that we can take theoretical advances to applied research. Lot of advances came from neuroscience and biology. We do exploratory and basic research. There is also a need for baselines, especially, security for IoT. Dr. Chad Jenkins said we emphasize more on seed corn. AI and neural networks were outside the mainstream. Given time to develop, we can see breakthroughs. We had diversity in the intellectual landscape that allowed it to happen.
Dr. Ms. Talitha Washington said the convergence accelerator can tackle national scale societal challenges. We can bring long lasting societal nuggets. We can also bring diverse AI-driven researches to produce deliverables. Different teams can push innovation. Dr. John R. Smith agreed that investment from the government is essential. Some programs are the recipe for what’s needed. We can commit to outcomes together.
Later, Rep. Jay Obernolte said recent developments have shown the need to protect our infrastructure from other actors. We need to protect the pipeline, and need to be more vigilant. We need to have tools to meet the challenges. We also need to attract the right talent for doing next-generation work. AI is a game changer. We measured millions of instructions per second 35 years ago. The exaflop exascale computer has now been introduced. We need to reduce the energy required to run computers.
Rep. Bill Foster added the future of AI/ML is very important. We held a hearing focused on how best we can leverage AI in the digital age. We have also focused on trusted silicon foundries. Developments in AI are at the forefront of innovation. AI is here to stay. America can be a world leader. We now need to have robust government investment. We are providing researchers with data sets.
5G, Wi-Fi 6, cloud and AI providing growth opportunities: Christiano Amon, Qualcomm
Qualcomm Inc. opened the IFA Berlin 2020 with a talk around “A Time to Innovate.” Christiano Amon, President, Qualcomm Inc., said: “Connectivity is essential! None of this would be possible without years of innovation from companies at IFA and across the world. The smartphone has enriched our daily lives and transformed the global economies. We have so much more ahead. Connectivity has enabled 1.7 billion students to get education remotely and allowed 1.8 billion telehealth visits in the USA during 2020.
“We all must ride this challenge. We don’t have to talk about a digital future any more. It is right before us! Everyone has recognized the benefits of technologies that would have, otherwise, taken 5-10 years. Technologies like 5G, Wi-Fi 6, cloud and AI are providing us growth opportunities. The mobile industry has built a foundation for all. Innovation is all around us.”
Digital and physical converging
It is about billions of devices working together. There will be a future of intelligent devices that would be always on and always connected. The devices will provide us with new capabilities. The value of digital transformation is here to stay. The next big innovation will be the converging of digital and physical worlds. The network will evolve to become more flexible and intelligent. The wireless edge will also expand into the home.
Amon added that with 5G accelerating globally, wireless has become the superior connectivity technology. Commercialization is moving fast! Today, there are over 80+ telecom operators across ~40 countries with 5G commercially deployed. And, 300+ operators are investing more in the technology. There are 100s of 5G products available, and in development.
Qualcomm projects that 750 million 5G smartphones should ship by 2022. 5G connections are forecast to be 2 years faster than 4G adoption by 2023, and surpass 1+ billion. By 2025, 5G connections are expected to be 2.8 billion. It will also include 45 percent of all mobile data calls.
There will be more innovation-driven economics driven by supply chains. In manufacturing, their is the promise of Industry 4.0, as well. The ICT sector will see 15 percent increase in market value by 2025. The economic impact of 5G will be fast. It will enable up to $13.2 trillion in 5G-enabled sales activity by 2035.
Future of entertainment
The future of entertainment will also change. Qualcomm has partnered with Live Nation, as the 5G Core Technology Partner, at Sportpaleis, Antwerp, Belgium.
Ms. Jackie Wilgar, SVP Marketing International, Live Nation said that a live concert will push the boundaries of 5G. The Qualcomm 5G Snapdragon platform will absolutely transform the live experience. There is AR, mixing sound from the stage, in real-time. It is a whole new way!
Amon said full 5G requires millimeterwave. 5G mmWave allows video streaming, cloud gaming, virtual presence and immersive entertainment. 5G FWA in private networks complements fiber broadband. The mmW performance is amazing. According to Ookla, the average download speed of 5G is four times faster than 4G. Over 120 operators are now investing to commercially deploy 5G using mmW.
In the USA, all the operators have launched 5G services using mmW. 5G auctions have been successful in Finland, Italy, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. In Germany, it should be available in 2021. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 5G modem-RF system provides 5G at full speed and support for sub-6GHz and mmW.
Marco Arioli, Head of Engineering, FastWeb, Italy, talked about the 5G opportunities. We are entering a new era of services. It presents a unique opportunity to improve the quality of life. FastWeb has been focusing on network infrastructure to deliver high-quality broadband.
This year, FastWeb will launch 5G services to provide broadband services in Italy. It will also help them to reduce the digital divide in Italy. We have a partnership with Qualcomm. After two years of preparation, FastWeb is ready to launch 5G mmW services.
New 5G platform
Amon added that Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G mobile platform and Snapdragon 865+ 5G mobile platform are making all this possible. It currently has 165+ designs announced, or in development. Qualcomm is committed to make 5G available for everyone. Today, Qualcomm is bringing 5G Snapdragon 4 Series mobile platforms, to be launched in 2021.
Tony Chen, Founder and CEO, Oppo, said the pandemic has changed the way we work. Oppo has been involved in the evolution of 5G. Last May, it became one of the first to launch 5G smartphones in Europe. It has also collaborated with 37 carriers in Europe. The co-operation with Qualcomm has been since the early days.
Oppo has launched several 5G smartphones, such as the Oppo Find X2 powered by Snapdragon mobile platforms, as well as the 5G CPE for FWA in Europe and the other markets. Now, Qualcomm has scaled 5G to the Snapdragon 5 series. Oppo will continue to collaborate with Qualcomm to roll out 5G. It will evolve with XR and AI, and drive the new ecosystem of intelligent connectivity.
Xiaomi is another partner. Lei Jun, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Xiaomi M1, said that they have introduced several smartphones powered by Snapdragon 8 series and 7 series 5G mobile platforms.
Xiaomi will become one of the world’s first to adopt Snapdragon 4 Series 5G mobile platform. 2020 serves as a decade of Xiaomi. We have achieved every milestone along with Qualcomm’s support. Xiaomi’s products are available across over 90 countries and regions. The shipment is among the top 5 in 50 markets.
Focus on wearables and immersive sound
Amon added that wearables are continuing to grow in popularity. The Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 and 4100+ platforms enable you to stay connected. We are also seeing the growth of XR. Qualcomm is a leader in XR with 30+ devices from global manufacturers. Oculus and Microsoft are also the partners. The Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 5G mobile platform is geared for XR. Devices will be available in the coming months.
In immersive sound, Qualcomm is announcing the State of Play report 2020. It looks at: what drives buying decisions for audio consumers. About 45 percent surveyed said that audio devices help them with productivity. 73 percent of the end users are looking to go fully wireless. Noise cancellation is the fourth-most added feature. The Qualcomm aptX Adaptive gives smart, ultra, low-power audio. We are also announcing the Qualcomm Adaptive ANC designed to deliver premium noise cancellation.
Future of productivity
By the end of this year, 83 percent of all workloads are expected to be in the cloud. We are working closely working with Microsoft and the others to bring the best solutions. Today, we are announcing the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8CX Gen 2 5G compute platform. It has 5G and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity speeds. It provides enterprise-grade security, as well.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8CX Gen 2 5G platform has blazing fast and reliable connectivity. The Spectrum ISP supports 32MP camera. There is superior quality sound, as well. There is dual 4K display. There is AI, as well. There is also the loom.ai feature. Sophos provides the cybersecurity.
Jerry Kao, Co-COO, Acer, said that Acer has worked with Qualcomm for many years. The Acer Spin 7 is among the first notebooks with Snapdragon 5G. It is a slim device, always connected. The power consumption is very low. Acer has an incredible notebook for mobile professionals. We are looking forward to continue the partnership with Qualcomm.
Amon said Qualcomm has also collaborated with HP and Microsoft. With HP, we are seeing a new era of devices. HP has designed a new notebook for the next era of business.
Panos Panay, Chief Product Officer at Microsoft, said that Qualcomm has been a catalyst that has been pushing. We are building the future of mobile computer together. The idea that you can use a product all day, on-the-go, is really inspiring. We also have momentum with the partners and customers. Amon added that they will collaborate for new devices, solutions and experiences.
Enterprises next!
Amon also talked about WFH. The changes we are experiencing right now, will change the enterprises for decades. There will be about 25 percent of the global mobile network data traffic by 2025. About 30+ OEMSs have chosen the Snapdragon X55 modem-RF system. There are 80+ FWA products coming up. Wi-Fi 6 will provide next-generation connectivity across Europe. There are partners such as British Telecom, Telecom Italia, Deutsche Telecom and Swisscom. The Qualcomm networking pro series will help.
The Wi-Fi mesh is next! There will be a combination of 5G and Wi-Fi 6. There is the multi-user MIMO as well. The Wi-Fi 6 solution from Qualcomm also supports sub-6GHz, where available. The 5G infrastructure needs to be dense, high performance, flexible, scalable and low power, for indoors and outdoors. The modern network will become more virtual and interoperable.
Qualcomm is also supporting a growing number of innovative OEMs, such as Airspan, Altiostar, Corning, T&W, Foxconn, Verizon, Keysight, etc. Qualcomm’s 5G RAN solutions will serve public and private networks and operators.
Masaki Taniguchi, SVP Mobile System Business, Fujitsu, said that the global expansion of 5G is continuing. Fujitsu and Qualcomm have a long history of providing mobile services.
Atsuo Kanawara, EVP and President, Network Services Business Unit, added that 5G will see innovative networks. There will be full potential of 5G, driven by digital transformation. We have a huge opportunity to deploy 5G for operators around the globe.
Ms. Claudia Nemat, Board Member, Technology and Innovation, Deutsche Telecom, added that 5G provides the best customer experience. About a year ago, we launched 5G. We cover nearly half of the German population. Dynamic spectrum sharing allows 5G and 4G to work together, seamlessly. We will cover two-thirds of the German population by the end of this year. 5G provides scalabiity and innovation. There is also the OpenRAN. We will all be able to take advantage of more innovation. The innovation will be from the new players and startups. This year, we also demonstrated the world’s first end-to-end network slice. We are well positioned to drive 5G.”
Industry 4.0 ahoy, and retail!
Amon said Qualcomm is also working with Siemens and Bosch. Siemens set up the Qualcomm 5G industrial test device with 5G modem. Qualcomm and Siemens established the first network in an industrial environment using the 3.7-3.8GHz band. This will also shape the future of transportation. 5G, AI and cloud will also help in re-inventing retail. The edge cloud delivers the highest quality processing.
Ms. Roanne Stone, Corporate VP, Azure Edge+ Platform, Microsoft, said that the need for digital transformation is present to help us respond, recover and re-imagine. The devices in our home need intelligence. We are seeing some momentum.
Customers are also taking advantage of device capabilities. They are asking for more intelligent capabilities. They want devices that they bring to their homes are secure. With Qualcomm, we are working for end-to-end security. We will be sharing Microsoft edge AI devices very soon.
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