Academia and industry come together for silicon photonics

Academia and industry come together for silicon photonics

2024-04-09

As artificial intelligence becomes more widespread, demand is increasing for fast data transmission technology. One tech that has drawn considerable attention is silicon photonics. In the past, copper wires were used to transmit electric signals, which are slower and less energy efficient than optical signals. Despite developments in the field, silicon photonics is still an immature technology. In order to promote cooperation between industry and academia in the area, the Photonics Industry and Technology Development Association on Tuesday formed an alliance on the matter with the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. Let’s hear from the parties involved.

Lee Yuh-jye
Photonics Industry and Technology Development Association
At the beginning, there wasn’t any real demand to explore the technology. But now, the AI craze is driving demand for high data transmission speeds and computing power.

Yen Jia-yush
NTUSC
Although there has been several years’ worth of academic research, the field is still relatively new. So this year, we established a research center on silicon photonics.

Lee San-liang
Heterogeneously Integrated Silicon Photonics Alliance
TSMC has said that it won’t know whether this technology can be developed successfully by year’s end. It’s still in its early stages of integration with the whole semiconductor industry, including advanced packaging.

Intel had delved into the sector as far back as 2010. TSMC CEO C.C. Wei has voiced optimism about future developments about his company’s joint venture in the field with Broadcom and Nvidia. Meanwhile, Advanced ASE Group has been investing into the technology for 13 years now. Silicon photonics has also been listed by the National Science and Technology Council as one of Taiwan’s key 22 technologies to develop.

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AI帶動"矽光子技術"需求產學聯盟推動研發進度

2024-04-09

隨著AI應用越來越廣，資料傳輸的速度和效率都要更快，這也讓矽光子技術備受關注。過去用銅線傳輸"電訊號"，現在用光訊號，速度更快還能減少耗電，只是目前矽光子技術門檻高，還不成熟。今天光電協進會與台科大攜手成立"矽光子聯盟"，要推動產學合作。

[[光電協進會董事長李育杰]]
“當初並沒有一個實際上的需求在驅動，那在這一波AI的浪潮下面，整個對於資料傳輸的速度，計算的要求都增快”

[[台科大校長顏家鈺]]
“學界的研究，雖然說有幾年了，但是仍然還算比較新的領域，今年就讓我們學校成立了，矽光子的研發中心”

[[國際矽光子異質整合聯盟會長李三良]]
“台積電他們也都說，他們要到年底才能知道，這個技術是不是有辦法發展成功，是一個萌芽階段，現在矽光子是搭配了這整個半導體，包括先進封裝”

國際上，英特爾早在2010年就推出相關技術，台積電總裁魏哲家坦言，看好未來發展，目前已與博通、輝達合作開發，封裝大廠日月光已投入研究13年，國科會更把它列為台灣22項關鍵技術之一，要全力衝刺矽光子發展。

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With 45 billion parameter models, and Taiwan-specific Mandarin terms, Mediatek says the DaVinci platform is better than Chat GPT-3.5. It can process more than 40,000 traditional Chinese characters, 10 times more than Mistral AI’s language model, which can handle just 4,000. DaVinci has more than 100,000 dialogue entries from MediaTek as its foundation, allowing it to provide custom services for home and vehicle use.

It can also be integrated with employee time tracking systems and work leave systems.

Everything can be handled by DaVinci, from marketing strategies and collecting news pieces to booking train tickets.

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DaVinci is not a product, it’s already a developed platform. We have received inquiries from Japan and even Singapore. Clients have contacted us from Asia and the Americas, and they are all big corporations that are global leaders in their industries.

And it’s not just companies from overseas. In Taiwan, more than 20 high-tech companies, over 10 consumer brands and financial corporations as well as companies in traditional industries are working together, allowing MediaTek to expand its ecosystem and make AI applications more widespread.

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Computerized portion of Han Kuang War Games extended to be eight days long

The annual Han Kuang War Games are back in action this month. Starting next week, computerized exercises will be carried out over eight days, and the military will be using lessons learned from the tabletop version when live-fire drills are held in July. One of the key features of training this year will be rules of engagement which define the situations in which soldiers can use force when fighting the enemy. The rules are seen as a way to maintain support from the international community in a war scenario.

First held in 1984, the annual Han Kuang War Games are the Armed Forces’ biggest war exercise, and this year they’ll include currently conscripted soldiers and reservists. The live-fire drills portion of the war games will take place in July, but first up is the tabletop portion.

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This year the schedule for tabletop exercises has been extended to eight days and seven nights. They include simulations of gray-zone tactics during peace time and a potential rapid transition from peace to war in Taiwan. Amid the Israel-Hamas war and the Russia-Ukraine war, we’re concentrating on cognitive warfare, asymmetrical warfare capabilities, and our utilization of military reserves. The way we designed these games takes into consideration every aspect of asymmetrical warfare, and we can use this as reference for how we can employ our troops.

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Tung Chi-Hsing
MND combat and planning affairs director
This edition of the war games is separated into two sessions: computerized exercises and live-fire drills. The computerized exercises involve inspecting the procedures of commands and discussing rules of engagement. During the live-fire drill part, soldiers will take action while following the rules of engagement. These are cards with instructions for every soldier, that tell them under what kinds of threats they are authorized to use weapons and ammunition. They even include different instructions that can be followed to face specific situations.

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With China using gray-zone tactics on Taiwan’s outlying islands, the military is ready to counter harassment from across the strait.

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TSMC is known for its world-leading semiconductors, but the high-tech giant also has a charity foundation that has committed itself to helping post-earthquake Hualien rebuild. Sophie Chang leads the charity, and she was part of a team that traveled to eastern Taiwan to inspect the damage done by last week’s quake.

Almost a week after the earthquake, TSMC Charity Foundation Chair Sophie Chang took a train to Hualien to inspect the damage; she expressed that the charity is determined to help with recovery.

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I came to see the damage done for the primary reason of seeing what we can do. We won’t get involved in anything the government is working on. As for what the public desperately needs, we’ll be sure get to work on that as quickly as we can.

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Chang promised to help. In the afternoon the team visited a center that cares for youth. Just six years ago, the TSMC Charity Foundation had donated NT$3 million to upgrade the building’s seismic resistance to intensities of 7. Even then the structure sustained heavy damage by last week’s tremor.

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Something just popped into my head: every time I come to Hualien it’s to help with disaster relief. I’ve never come here for pleasure, so today has been very emotional for me.

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