ChatGPT Buzz Fuels Demand for Chips and Gear, Advantest Says
Advantest Corp. is seeing a spike in demand for its chip-testing devices, catalyzed by the frenzy of interest in OpenAI's ChatGPT and other novel uses of artificial intelligence.
A global race to develop powerful computing clusters and next-generation AI training systems is spurring chipmakers to buy many more of the Tokyo-based company's testing tools, Advantest Co-Chief Strategy Officer Yasuo Mihashi said in an interview.
The executive's outlook comes against a backdrop of muted demand for consumer electronics and a US-led campaign to restrict trade of advanced semiconductors to China. Japan last month said it would expand export controls on its chip technology. Still, the AI surge is driving up orders from Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., two companies that provide the key AI-training semiconductors and which rely on Advantest as their main testing tools supplier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“We are the industry's dominant player, so we benefit when something like ChatGPT expands uses of high-performance computing,” Mihashi told Bloomberg News in an interview.
Advantest shares have surged 36% this year, approaching all-time highs as the world's imagination has been captured by the promise of ChatGPT and other offerings aimed at making internet services smarter and more human-like. The company expects operating profit in the fiscal year ended March to rise by 48% to ¥170 billion ($1.3 billion).
Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google are among the first to integrate generative AI into their web tools, while in China a parallel race is already underway — led by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., SenseTime Group Inc. and Baidu Inc. — to build a dominant AI platform in the world's largest internet market.
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