Shenwan Hongyuan Securities·2025-09-26 12:46Investment Rating - The report maintains a positive outlook on the ASIC industry, indicating a favorable investment rating for the sector [2]. Core Insights - The report highlights the significant cost-effectiveness and efficiency advantages of ASICs over GPUs, particularly in the context of AI model inference, with Google's TPU v5 demonstrating an energy efficiency ratio 1.46 times that of NVIDIA's H200 [3][19]. - The increasing penetration of AI applications is driving a surge in inference demand, expanding the market for ASICs, with projections indicating the global AI ASIC market could reach $125 billion by 2028 [3][32]. - The report emphasizes the complexity of ASIC design, underscoring the critical role of design service providers like Broadcom and Marvell, which are expected to benefit from the growing demand for custom ASIC solutions [4][44]. Summary by Sections 1. Demand Driven by Large Model Inference - The global AI chip market is projected to reach $500 billion by 2028-2030, with significant growth in AI infrastructure spending anticipated [13]. - ASICs are specialized chips that offer strong cost and efficiency advantages, particularly in specific applications like text and video inference [14][19]. - The report notes that the demand for ASICs is expected to rise sharply due to the increasing consumption of tokens in AI applications, exemplified by the rapid growth of ChatGPT's user engagement [25][31]. 2. High Complexity of ASIC Design and Value of Service Providers - ASIC design involves a complex supply chain, with cloud vendors often relying on specialized design service providers for chip architecture and optimization [41][44]. - Broadcom's ASIC revenue is projected to exceed $12 billion in 2024, driven by the success of its TPU designs for Google and other clients [60]. - The report identifies the importance of a complete IP system and design experience as key factors for service providers to secure new orders in the ASIC market [63]. 3. Domestic Developments: Not Just Following Trends - Leading Chinese cloud providers like Alibaba and Baidu are making significant strides in self-developed ASICs, indicating a robust domestic ecosystem [3][4]. - The report highlights the emergence of domestic design service providers such as Chipone and Aowei Technology, which are positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for ASICs [3][4]. - The trends of PD separation and supernodes are identified as critical developments in the domestic ASIC landscape, with companies like Huawei and Haiguang leading the way [4][44]. 4. Key Trends in Domestic ASIC Development - PD separation involves using different chips for prefill and decode tasks, enhancing efficiency in specific applications [4]. - Supernodes are being developed to create unified computing systems through high-bandwidth interconnections, with early implementations seen in domestic companies [4][44].