Collaboration
Working on AI Chip Applications with Microsoft
From left: ITRI’s Deputy General Director Shih-Chieh Chang, Microsoft’s Carl Coken, and MOEA DoIT Director-General Ta-Sheng Lo.
To expand innovative IoT applications and technology cooperation, ITRI joined a delegation led by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to visit Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington and meet with its General Manager of Global Solution Architects–CDS IoT Solution Sales Carl Coken. The meeting discussed topics including the development of AI chips, edge computing, and the security of IoT chips, hoping to promote cooperation in AI chip design software and system protection to catalyze more AI chip applications. The delegation also included representatives from Delta, Etron Technology, Inventec, MiTAC, and National Tsing Hua University.
Dr. Ta-Sheng Lo, Director-General of the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT), MOEA, indicated that the DoIT has fostered the creation of the AI on Chip Taiwan Alliance (AITA), and Microsoft is a member of the alliance. Dr. Lo hopes Taiwan is able to leverage Microsoft's longstanding efforts in software platform architecture and IoT, along with integration of cross-disciplinary engineering, from chips and systems to applications and services. This will promote AI-related technology and applications development, maximizing the strengths of both sides, he said.
Dr. Shih-Chieh Chang, Deputy General Director of ITRI’s Electronic and Optoelectronic System Research Laboratories, remarked that ITRI has a solid foundation in semiconductors and ICT and possesses technologies in edge inference chips, AI software and hardware integration, heterogeneous integration, and emerging memory. Its AI-on-Chip Project will focus on device-end AI applications that emphasize “immediacy,” “reliability,” “privacy,” and “customization.” “Privacy” will, for example, involve security monitoring and health management, and consequently address the issue of data security. “Customized” AI products associated with voice recognition, smart eyewear and other applications will link with personal information and require data security as well. ITRI will cooperate with Microsoft on developing AI chips under the AI-on-Chip Project, providing more sophisticated protection for AI-enabled devices.
Mr. Coken stated that Microsoft has long committed itself to IoT security. In recent years, it has cooperated with MediaTek in the development of the first Azure Sphere microcontroller, with the expectation that equipment security in industry can be enhanced to higher standards. In the process of digital transformation, this will minimize the impact on equipment from malicious attacks and will enable sensitive date to be transmitted more securely. The cooperation with the AI on Chip Taiwan Alliance, he said, will further provide the highest security protection via the Azure Sphere platform. The AI IP developed by manufacturers can thereby enjoy the greatest protection. Microsoft is looking forward to further cooperation with the alliance, he added.