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Chips and AI infrastructure
From chips, memory and manufacturing to data centers and electricity. See the technology and facilities that AI runs on, and how they fit together.
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The kinds of chips, and the words for designing, making and trading them.
- SemiconductorA material that can either pass electricity or block it. The small chips made from it are also called semiconductors.
- CPU (central processing unit)The chip that acts as the brain of a computer. It reads a program's instructions one by one, calculates, and tells the other parts what to do.
- GPU (graphics processing unit)A chip that does the same calculation a huge number of times at once. It is the chip most used to train and run AI.
- AI chipA general name for chips built to do AI calculations quickly. The GPU is the best-known example.
- ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit)A chip designed to do just one job well. The best-known examples are chips that big tech companies design for their own AI.
- NPU (neural processing unit)A chip built to run AI calculations inside a phone or laptop while using little power.
- Memory chipA chip that holds information. The best-known types are DRAM, which holds data briefly, and NAND flash, which stores it for the long term.
- DRAMFast memory where a computer puts data while it works. Its contents disappear when the power is turned off.
- HBM (high bandwidth memory)AI memory built by stacking memory chips in layers so that data moves in and out very fast.
- FablessA company that only designs semiconductors and has no factory. It leaves the making to a foundry.
- FoundryA factory that makes semiconductors designed by other companies, or that business.
- Process nodeA name for how thin and tightly packed a chip's circuits are made. The smaller the number, the more advanced the technology.
- WaferA thin, round disc of silicon on which chips are made. Hundreds of chips come from a single one.
- YieldThe share of the chips made that work properly. The higher it is, the less is thrown away.
- EUV (extreme ultraviolet lithography)A technology that draws chip circuits with light of a very short wavelength. It is used to make the most advanced chips.
- Semiconductor equipmentThe machines used to make semiconductors. There are separate machines for drawing circuits, etching, coating and inspecting.
- Advanced packagingA technology that stacks finished chips and links them closely, so that they work like a single chip.
- Power semiconductorA semiconductor that changes and controls the strength and shape of electricity. It goes into chargers, electric cars and data center power supplies.
- Supply chainThe chain that runs from raw materials to parts, assembly and delivery, until a product reaches your hands.
- Export controlsRules by which a country blocks the sale of certain technologies or products to other countries. Advanced semiconductors are a leading target.
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