In recent years, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, there has been a growing demand for high-performance, energy-efficient chips. To address this challenge, GlobalFoundries (GF), a world-renowned semiconductor manufacturing company, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have announced a new research collaboration agreement to jointly advance the performance and efficiency of key semiconductor technologies. The collaboration will focus on the development of AI and other application areas, and will focus on the development of more efficient and energy-efficient chip solutions.
Collaboration Highlights:
The collaboration is led by MIT's Microsystems Technology Laboratory (MTL) and GF's R&D team, GF Labs. Initial research projects will focus on GF's differentiated silicon photonics technology, which enables energy efficiency optimization in data centers by integrating RF SIO, CMOS, and optical functions on a single chip. In addition, GF's 22FDX platform, known for its ultra-low power consumption, will be used for edge smart devices.
By combining these two advanced technologies, the researchers hope to increase computing power while significantly reducing energy consumption, which is critical to meeting the demands of modern data centers as well as edge computing devices. Especially for those application scenarios that need to operate in extreme environments, such as self-driving cars, telemedicine devices, etc., the advancement of this technology will bring about a huge change.
The power of combining academia and industry
Professor Tomás Palacios, Director of MTL, said: "This collaboration demonstrates the strong potential of academia and industry to join forces to solve the most pressing challenges in semiconductor research. He emphasized that by combining MIT's world-leading capabilities in electronic engineering and computer science with GF's leading position in semiconductor platforms, the two companies can jointly drive major breakthroughs in AI-related chip technology.
Professor Palacios noted that this interdisciplinary collaboration will not only help accelerate technological innovation, but also develop a new generation of professionals with cutting-edge knowledge and technical skills. "Through this collaboration, we hope to provide students with more practical opportunities so that they can take a strong position in the workplace of the future."
Figure: GlobalFoundries and MIT join forces to drive AI chip innovation（image:GlobalFoundries）
Future outlook
Gregg Bartlett, Chief Technology Officer of GF, noted that this partnership not only demonstrates GF's commitment to innovation, but also its commitment to developing the next generation of talent in the semiconductor industry. "We believe that by working together, we can explore industry-changing solutions."
Bartlett added that GF has been developing advanced semiconductor process technologies and platforms to meet market demand for higher performance, lower power products. "By partnering with MIT, we will be able to bring these innovative technologies to market faster and provide more competitive products and services to our customers."
Anantha P. Chandrakasan, Dean of the School of Engineering and Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, also expressed high expectations for the collaboration. He believes that integrated circuit technology is at the heart of driving development in many fields, from mobile computing to cloud computing. "Through this collaboration, MIT's research community will be able to leverage GF's expertise and technology to foster cross-domain microelectronics technology innovation and equip students with the knowledge and skills they need for the future workplace."
Deepen cooperation
The signing ceremony of this agreement took place on the MIT campus and marks the beginning of a new phase in the long-standing and successful partnership between GF and MIT. In addition to joint research and prototyping, the two companies will deepen their collaboration on multiple levels, including participation in the Northeast Microelectronics Coalition, a public microelectronics platform supported by the U.S. Department of Defense to promote the development of microelectronics technology and talent development.
In the future, the two companies will continue to work together to address the challenges of the semiconductor industry and create a brighter future. By continuously exploring new technologies, materials and processes, the GF-MIT partnership is expected to revolutionize the global semiconductor industry and push the entire technology landscape forward.
