The AI shift is leaving traditional compute vendors behind

Why it matters: In all the focus on the big processors and the "AI race," we often overlook the far less glamorous business of actually building compute systems. We have explored different parts of that (and here), but there is an underlying assumption built into all these conversations – the role of Taiwanese companies upon which the whole ecosystem rests. What will the shift to AI compute mean for the hundreds of companies that make up this critical ecosystem? We were reminded of this during our recent visit to Mobile World Congress when we had the chance to visit the Taiwan ITRI Booth. ITRI is a trade organization representing their electronics companies. The booth had a dozen vendors offering various pieces of computing gear. This includes companies like iBase and Nexcom, which make specialty server gear (security and edge), Asrock, which makes motherboards, and Aerotek, which produces all sorts of radio equipment (Wi-Fi, mmWave, etc). These are small companies without the cachet ... Read full article.