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AI’s Chip Challenge; Intel Betting on Factories; India Lures Production

By Paul Page

 

Nvidia’s advanced graphic chips excel at doing lots of computations simultaneously, which is crucial for AI work. NVIDIA/REUTERS

Artificial intelligence is being touted as a solution to all sorts of supply-chain problems, but right now it’s creating an entirely new headache. A shortage of the advanced chips that are the lifeblood of new generative AI systems is triggering a race to lock down computing power and find workarounds. The WSJ’s Deepa Seetharaman and Tom Dotan report that the boom in demand for graphics chips, or GPUs, has far outpaced supply with the viral success of ChatGPT, the chatbot that provides humanlike responses. Almost all of the chips used for AI are made by Nvidia, which says it has ramped up production of its new flagship chip for generative AI. But for now users are finding mostly limitations. Entrepreneurs are struggling to secure capacity, leading some investors to orchestrate bulk orders of processors and server capacity that can be shared across their AI startups.

 

Quotable

“It’s like toilet paper during the pandemic.”

— Sharon Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Lamini, on the shortage of graphics chips used for AI.
 
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Supply Chain Strategies

Intel agreed last year to buy Israeli chip maker Tower Semiconductor. Technicians there test a semiconductor wafer. PHOTO: KOBI WOLF/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Intel’s bid to change the direction of the company by resetting its role in global semiconductor supply chains is off to a rocky start. CEO Pat Gelsinger is trying to stop Intel from becoming yet another storied American technology company left in the dust by nimbler competitors. The WSJ’s Asa Fitch writes Gelsinger's plan is to spend billions on new factories that would make chips alongside Intel’s own processors, a contract-manufacturing model known as a foundry business. The effort has been bogged down in problems, with mobile-phone chip giant Qualcomm and carmaker Tesla both backing away from having Intel produce chips for them. Whether Gelsinger succeeds will help determine whether Intel will have to settle for a role as just another chip maker in the shadow of sector leaders including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. It also has ramifications for U.S. efforts to redraw semiconductor supply chains to bolster a domestic industry.

  • Arizona-based semiconductor-sector supplier Chemical Strategies is adding a distribution center in Phoenix to serve a growing chip manufacturing base. (ConnectCRE)
 
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Supply Chain Strategies

Samsung started relocating certain operations away from China more than a decade ago. Now Apple is making similar moves. A range of geopolitical factors are pushing those and other tech giants to relocate their operations from China. A WSJ Video goes inside the decisions for a closer look at the strategy behind Samsung’s and Apple’s manufacturing moves outside of China.

  • Japanese medical device maker Omron will open a $14.3 million factory in India. (Business Today)
 
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Number of the Day

2.031

The Baltic Airfreight Index for worldwide spot prices the week ending May 29, according to TAC, down 9.6% since the start of the month to the lowest level since the first week of March 2020.

 

In Other News

China’s factory activity contracted for a second straight month in May. (WSJ)

Economists say a proposed deal to lift the federal debt limit would have only a small effect on the cooling U.S. economy or inflation. (WSJ)

A measure of consumer confidence in the U.S. slipped in May to a six-month low. (MarketWatch)

Manufacturing activity in Texas weakened in May to its lowest reading in three years. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Amtrak’s new $2 billion trains to replace its Acela fleet are sidetracked because they have to run on old tracks shared with commuter and freight trains. (WSJ)

Vietnam’s exports fell 11.6% in the first five months of the year on sharply reduced smartphone trade. (Reuters)

Worldwide crude steel production fell 2.4% in April from the same month last year. (Recycling Today)

Chinese electric-vehicle component supplier Semcorp plans to start production in Hungary at its first factory outside China. (Nikkei Asia)

Daimler Truck and Toyota plan to combine their truck businesses in Japan into a single publicly-traded company. (CNBC)

Applied Intuition is buying foundering autonomous trucking company Embark Trucks for $71 million. (TechCrunch)

Union Pacific is joining BNSF Railway in adding intermodal container service from Port Houston. (Dow Jones Newswires)

A U.S. Xpress shareholder is asking the court to halt a vote on Knight-Swift Transportation’s acquisition of the truckload carrier. (Transport Dive)

Ocean Network Express joined the blockchain-based logistics platform GSBN. (Lloyd’s List)

Drewry says global production of sea containers fell 71% in the first quarter to the lowest quarterly level since 2010. (Container Management)

Gartner placed Schneider Electric at the top of its annual global supply chain top 25 list and Tesla led four new companies in the rankings. (Supply Chain Management Review)

 

About Us

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at paul.page@wsj.com.

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @bylizyoung and @pdberger. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.

 
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