The popularity of AI-enabled, cloud-based semiconductor companies has reached historic highs, and the Cloud AI chip market is scaling aggressively with some projections showing the numbers to be anywhere between $19 billion and $71 billion.
The U.S. National Science Foundation is looking to that future with a $20 million grant to a team from Virginia Tech to establish an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled cloud-based semiconductor laboratory.
The Virginia Tech Programmable Cloud Laboratory (PCL) Node will allow the team to make the university’s semiconductor facilities remotely accessible to a range of users as part of a nationwide network of AI-enabled automated laboratories.
The Blacksburg group is one of 20 teams to receive funding in what the National Science Foundation calls “a core … contribution to the U.S. government’s Genesis Mission, a national effort to harness AI for scientific discovery.”
According to Virginia Tech, the PCL Node will strengthen U.S. semiconductor innovation, manufacturing resilience, and workforce development.
“The chance of this serving the larger population is great,” said Professor Rose Hu, head of the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and the project’s principal investigator. “Ultimately, the goal is for all 20 nodes to be made accessible across the entire United States. Broadened access is the whole purpose of building this powerful network.”
Hu compared the project to the computer networking experimentation done throughout the late 20th century: What began as four computer nodes initially restricted to academic research later became the internet as we know it today.
In the same way, the team anticipates that the new network of remote laboratories, including Virginia Tech’s PCL Node, will expand job opportunities and access to scientific research, especially for underserved rural communities.
Staff report
