Fujitsu takes aim at AI chip market
AgenciesFujitsu Ltd said that it will begin in November global sales of “Monaka,” a Japan-made central processing unit for artificial intelligence processing, as it seeks to expand...
Fujitsu Ltd announced plans to begin global sales of a Japan-made central processing unit (CPU) for artificial intelligence (AI) processing in November, aiming to expand its presence in the AI market dominated by overseas companies. The company will also sell domestically produced servers equipped with the new CPU in Japan and Europe, as the United States and China intensify efforts to secure related technologies amid growing military applications of AI.
The demand for reliable, Japanese-made products is on the rise in Europe, driven by security concerns, prompting Fujitsu to offer integrated solutions encompassing semiconductors and servers. While current AI chips primarily consist of graphics processing units (GPUs), with U.S. semiconductor giant Nvidia Corp leading the market, Fujitsu's new CPU, named Monaka, offers significant advantages.
Monaka is designed to improve processing performance and power efficiency for inference, a method where AI generates answers based on learned data. The chip utilizes technology developed for Fugaku, Japan's flagship supercomputer, and claims to deliver twice the processing performance of competing CPUs while cutting server requirements and electricity consumption by half for the same amount of processing.
Monaka's production will be outsourced to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, and Fujitsu is exploring the possibility of using Japanese chipmaker Rapidus Corp as an alternative manufacturer in the future. The company intends to market the chip to cloud service providers and other customers in the United States and Asia.
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