Industry Urged to Shift Toward Reconfigurable Architectures
The CEO of imec, one of the world’s premier semiconductor research and development organizations, has outlined an urgent need for the chip industry to pivot toward reconfigurable and programmable architectures to keep pace with the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence[2][3].
Challenges with Current AI Hardware Approaches
Imec CEO Luc Van den hove noted that the swift evolution of AI algorithms is outstripping the industry’s prevailing strategy of creating dedicated, high-powered silicon chips. While this approach may drive short-term gains in raw processing power, it poses significant drawbacks in terms of energy consumption, cost, and agility in hardware development.
“There is a huge inherent risk of stranded assets because by the time the AI hardware is finally ready, the fast-moving AI software community may have taken a different turn,” Van den hove cautioned[3].
Some leading organizations, like
OpenAI, have opted to design custom chips to accelerate innovation. However, Van den hove warned that such a strategy is risky and economically unsustainable for most companies.
Advancing Toward Modular ‘Supercell’ AI Chips
Imec, based in Belgium, is internationally recognized for breakthroughs that are later adopted on a mass scale by major chipmakers, including TSMC and Intel[3]. Van den hove envisions that the next wave of AI chips will move beyond today’s large language models—such as
ChatGPT—to support agentic and physical AI use cases in fields such as healthcare and autonomous vehicles.
Key innovations include:
- Organizing chip capabilities into modular “supercells,” each integrating specific functionalities.
- Connecting these supercells via a high-speed network-on-chip, enabling rapid adaptation to the latest algorithmic requirements.
- Implementing advanced three-dimensional stacking technologies—bonding multiple layers of logic and memory silicon—which imec helped pioneer and are central to upcoming chip manufacturing nodes at companies like TSMC and Intel.
Imec’s Vision for the Future of AI Hardware
According to Van den hove, this architectural overhaul will require true three-dimensional stacking, a process imec has significantly advanced. As AI expands to support increasingly complex and varied applications, such adaptability is becoming essential.
Upcoming Industry Event
Imec will present these critical insights at its annual ITF World conference, being held this week in Antwerp, Belgium[3].
The semiconductor landscape is at a crossroads: with adaptable architectures and innovative stacking techniques, the industry can overcome the looming bottlenecks in AI hardware and support the breakthroughs of tomorrow[3].
