Imec Says AI Scaling Needs More Orchestration Across Research, Design, Manufacturing

At the ITF World 2026 conference, imec CEO Patrick Vandenameele used the analogy of an orchestra to highlight the complexity of scaling AI, emphasizing that breakthroughs in AI require deep coordinati... Read original →

Imec’s 'AI as a violin' metaphor at ITF 2026 is a sharp indictment of today’s fragmented semiconductor innovation. Technically, sub-3nm scaling and chiplet integration demand synchronized advances in EDA, EUV, and packaging—no single breakthrough suffices. Regulatory shifts in the U.S. and EU toward localized AI infrastructure standards will inflate supply chain costs for firms like Infineon unless interoperability frameworks emerge. Strategically, NVIDIA’s deepening ties with Microsoft signal a vertical integration arms race, pressuring TSMC and Samsung to share more PDK data to retain clients. Over the next 12–24 months, the real tailwind lies in convergence: Neuropixels 3.0–style CMOS-MEMS neuroprobes will seed a new class of sensor-compute chips, shifting AI hardware from generic acceleration to domain-native architectures. This isn’t just about transistors—it’s a battle for ecosystem sovereignty. Whoever defines the orchestration layer controls the future AI stack.