TECHNOLOGY f you ’ ve been following the technology or automotive industries lately , you ’ ll have most likely heard of the 2021 chip shortage , when businesses globally were struggling to order SoCs due to the ongoing fallout of COVID-19 .
Thankfully , chip production is ( somewhat ) returning to normal , although it ’ s not all guns blazing quite yet . Other industries have been taking note of the advantages of using SoCs , including the data centre sector , with some companies now offering bespoke chips and circuitry . According to Mckinsey , though , if data centres are going to reap the benefits of this , it ’ s important to understand the use cases first .
Stephen Simpson , Senior Principal at QuantumBlack , a McKinsey company , points out that “ hardware architectures have used a combination of central processing units ( CPUs ), memory , external storage , and network in a uniform way ”, adding that the result of this has been restrictive commodisation due to the “ substantial investment ” that such innovation requires . This has meant chip manufacturers lack the incentives necessary to provide custommade solutions , nor do they have the ability to outline specific use cases .
Simpson notes : “ By taking a systemson-a-chip ( SoC ) approach , data centre
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