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Jensen can't risk semiconductor supply chains derailing the AI hype train
As AI systems grow larger, optics are playing a larger part in their design – so much so that at Computex earlier this month, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang proclaimed the technology would make Marvell the next trillion dollar company. Now, Nvidia-backed photonics vendor Coherent plans to boost indium phosphide (InP) wafer production at its Sherman, Texas, fab by 4x in anticipation AI proliferation will trigger an explosion in optical interconnect demand.Supply chains must be ready to meet that demand when (or if) it materializes, and Coherent is one such supplier. The company operates eight wafer fabs across the US that produce semiconductors used in laser light sources and optical modules.These supply chains are so important to Nvidia’s future growth that, in March, the GPU slinger invested $2 billion in the optics vendor to bolster its production capacity. Coherent is wasting little time putting those funds to use.
Along with $20 million in funding from the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund and the Sherman Economic Development Corporation, and up to $50 million in CHIPS and Science Act funding, Coherent plans to plow $650 million into its Sherman plant, effectively doubling the factory’s footprint and quadrupling InP wafer output.
