4 ms·

Probably just another data center. But instead I’ll take a leap and predict: This is Amazon moving into not just designing Graviton but also vertically integr

Probably just another data center. But instead I’ll take a leap and predict: This is Amazon moving into not just designing Graviton but also vertically integrating silicon fabrication (for CPU, memory, and/or storage) into their portfolio.

bob1029 4y ago
Fabrication is a red line. Apple-style chip design is as far as it will ever go. You'd need to take the combined capital of Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, along with 2-3 decades of time to even begin considering becoming competitive with the likes of TSM or Samsung. Who is signing up for that risk profile?
- yazaddaruvala 4y ago
  Fabrication (or the loss of access to it at an affordable price) is an existential risk for every IAAS provider! Lets forget about WW3, but even the risk of a TSMC monopoly (or rather a TSMC+Apple monopoly) and price gouging is existential enough that Amazon has plenty of risk sitting on the sidelines regarding fabrication. It would be very inline with AWS to start fabrication as a service to avoid this existential risk. They can always start with easier node sizes for SSDs / DDRs / networking / automotive chips / etc. Even if only to self-source, Amazon alone needs a roughly-infinite supply of these speciality chips. Even totally new innovation that "only Amazon-types" need, like a Silicon interconnect the size of a Datacenter Cabinet (if the yield is reasonable) would be interesting to see. They could even make a play at SiC chips[0]. If they can make it cheap and at small enough node sizes, I'd love to see what innovation SiC could bring to datacenter design. eg more efficient power supplies of each server/rack/cabinet. [0] https://www.investors.com/news/technology/silicon-carbide-chips-are-new-gold-rush/ https://www.investors.com/news/technology/silicon-carbide-ch...

4 ms·

Probably just another data center. But instead I’ll take a leap and predict: This is Amazon moving into not just designing Graviton but also vertically integr

by yazaddaruvala 4y ago

bob1029 4y ago
Fabrication is a red line. Apple-style chip design is as far as it will ever go. You'd need to take the combined capital of Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, along with 2-3 decades of time to even begin considering becoming competitive with the likes of TSM or Samsung. Who is signing up for that risk profile?
- yazaddaruvala 4y ago
  Fabrication (or the loss of access to it at an affordable price) is an existential risk for every IAAS provider! Lets forget about WW3, but even the risk of a TSMC monopoly (or rather a TSMC+Apple monopoly) and price gouging is existential enough that Amazon has plenty of risk sitting on the sidelines regarding fabrication. It would be very inline with AWS to start fabrication as a service to avoid this existential risk. They can always start with easier node sizes for SSDs / DDRs / networking / automotive chips / etc. Even if only to self-source, Amazon alone needs a roughly-infinite supply of these speciality chips. Even totally new innovation that "only Amazon-types" need, like a Silicon interconnect the size of a Datacenter Cabinet (if the yield is reasonable) would be interesting to see. They could even make a play at SiC chips[0]. If they can make it cheap and at small enough node sizes, I'd love to see what innovation SiC could bring to datacenter design. eg more efficient power supplies of each server/rack/cabinet. [0] https://www.investors.com/news/technology/silicon-carbide-chips-are-new-gold-rush/ https://www.investors.com/news/technology/silicon-carbide-ch...