Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) is turning out to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence (AI) chip boom after Nvidia. That’s because the application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that Broadcom designs have been a huge hit among cloud service providers looking for cheaper alternatives to the expensive graphics cards that Nvidia sells.
Not surprisingly, there are rumors that Nvidia has established a new department to focus on ASICs. The custom nature of these chips means that they can be programmed to perform specific tasks, which is why they are now gaining traction for AI inference applications.
The overwhelming performance per watt advantage that ASICs are capable of delivering over graphics processing units (GPUs) while performing the tasks they are designed for explains why they are now in great demand — and other industry players are also benefiting.