AI is a transformative technology. It will have deep economic, social, and strategic consequences. Its progress and adoption have driven unprecedented demand for specialised AI chips. These include accelerators or ‘engines’ like GPUs, memory and storage systems or ‘fuel lines’, and the networking infrastructure that acts as the 'highways’.
Each of these components plays a vital role in making AI tick. The variety within each component type offers trade-offs between performance and efficiency. As a General Purpose Technology, AI will shape techno-national strategies worldwide. All stakeholders need to understand these specialised chips and support the development of alternatives to ensure a more diverse and resilient AI chip ecosystem.
Toward this end, I have co-authored a paper that provides an understanding of these various AI chips, their characteristics, limitations, and what makes them suitable for certain AI applications and not others. It also provides an overview of the global market landscape and identifies some single-vendor dependencies and monopolies. Ultimately, it emphasises fostering open-source technologies and ecosystem diversity.