SEOUL — Following a blockbuster first quarter since its December Kosdaq listing, custom semiconductor designer SemiFive announced a 137-percent year-on-year revenue surge driven entirely by global executives purchasing immense quantities of AI chips they lack the technical infrastructure to use.
Co-founder and CEO Brandon Cho stated during an earnings release that production bookings jumped 74 percent in the first quarter as corporate boards worldwide mandated the immediate acquisition of anything containing the letters "A" and "I." The Seoul-based Samsung Foundry partner reported that the unprecedented demand spans all sectors, including vast orders from companies that primarily manufacture patio furniture, industrial adhesives, and regional dairy products.
During an exclusive interview on "Bloomberg: The Asia Trade," Cho explained that the custom semiconductor market has been completely transformed by widespread, uncomprehending corporate terror. He noted that the vast majority of SemiFive’s recent shipments are currently sitting in unopened pallets in executive conference rooms, where CEOs occasionally gesture toward them during investor calls as proof of technological innovation.
We are seeing unprecedented demand from clients who just want a heavy box of silicon delivered to their headquarters so they can tell their shareholders they are doing AI.
Cho confirmed that the company's engineers are working around the clock to meet the backlog of orders from clients who are completely unaware that the chips require a motherboard, a power supply, or a basic understanding of computer science to function. According to the earnings report, several Fortune 500 companies have simply placed the raw semiconductors directly onto their office servers and are waiting for their quarterly profits to automatically increase.
During the Bloomberg broadcast, anchor Haidi Stroud-Watts pressed Cho on the long-term sustainability of selling highly complex processing units to clients who believe the chips operate wirelessly. Cho defended the business model, pointing out that as long as the phrase "machine learning" continues to appear in financial projections, demand for small, expensive, black squares of silicon will remain robust.
Looking ahead to the second quarter, SemiFive plans to further capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom by slightly increasing its prices and offering a premium tier of chips that are physically heavier, which Cho noted makes nervous executives feel much more secure about their investments.