Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan discussed his experience working with Elon Musk for the Terafab project and the impact that booming demand for artificial intelligence is having on the semiconductor supply chain. Tan made the remarks during the No Priors: AI, Machine Learning, Tech, & Startups podcast as he praised the trillionaire entrepreneur and commented on the memory shortage.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan Couldn't Stop Praising Elon Musk
The discussion started with Elon Musk's Terafab project through which he aims to meet the demand for chips for his cars, robotics and plans for space-based data centers. Intel will manufacture chips for the project through the 14A manufacturing process technology, according to Musk.
When asked about his experience working with Musk, Tan remarked that he and the trillionaire agreed that AI growth was outpacing the semiconductor production capacity:
Elon Musk I think we all agree is one of the best, if not the best, entrepreneur in this century. He and I, we share the same view, that semiconductor infrastructure actually is not catch up with the AI growth. And [inaudible] you need the capacity, you need to have the productivity and you have to drive efficiency. And so those are the thing that he and I, we share that. That's something missing.
Shifting towards Musk's personality, he remarked that the space and electric vehicle billionaire has a habit of dissecting processes. Musk has often shared his thought process and commented that it follows the First Principles approach:
And secondly, just delighted to work with it. And he is very, iconic, unconventional. And he basically question every step and why this traditional way of doing things. And in some ways very refreshing. And I like that. I like people have different opinion. And let's work together, find what is the best route. And we both gonna learn a lot together. And then I think clearly, that he have a vision that, his robots and his car, you know he need a lot of semiconductors.
Tan's discussion came after he appeared on The Long View" with Eric Veiel podcast and shared how he had almost not joined the company as its CEO. He outlined that his wife played a key role in influencing him, and added that AMD CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, also sought his advice before joining her firm. Su is widely credited with having turned around AMD's fortunes and helped it compete with its much larger rival, Intel.
In this podcast, Tan also commented on the impact of AI on the semiconductor supply chain. A major impact has been on the memory market as not only have prices surged, but they are also expected by some quarters to continue to rise.
The Intel CEO initially started by discussing how AI was disrupting the business world and even his industry. For instance, TSMC is using NVIDIA's AI products as part of its semiconductor manufacturing operations:
So I think clearly the AI is changing the whole landscape. And I think the impact will be bigger than internet. . .so I think that AI, you know, initially is able to help you do things more efficiently. And then with a lot of agent helping you, to do things that kind of mundane. That you need to do. . .so in some way I think it can drive a lot of efficiency. Even in semiconductor design, how you can drive the efficiency in term of timing, how quickly you can come out. And secondly the cost. And so I think those will be helping you to drive that.
Tan then discussed the impact on the memory market. He added that while most attention is focused on memory, the impact on helium can also be significant. Helium is used throughout the semiconductor fabrication process, for operations such as vapor deposition and cooling during the etching process:
And I think couple of bottlenecks for the AI demand and growth. One of course is everybody knows power constraint. Some country the power they just don't have that. . .and then secondly, a lot of people didn't realize, the helium impact can be also quite significant for the semiconductor. And then, thirdly, as everybody know, right now memory is the biggest shortage. And everybody try to scramble for memory. And then even though you depute a fab to capacity increase, it will take couple of years to do that. And same thing for CPU, GPU. And all this will be highly demanded. And I think the, also the pricing also go up. Because we have to pass the price, the cost to the customer.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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