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- First Spec Hand-off project in North America marks SEMIFIVE’s largest single contract to date
- Next-generation data center AI chip to integrate LPDDR6, PCIe Gen5, and Big Die technologies
- Tape-out targeted for the first half of 2027, followed by global mass production beginning in 2028
SEOUL, South Korea, Sept. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — SEMIFIVE, a leading global provider of custom AI semiconductor (ASIC) solutions, announced today that it has signed a contract worth approximately KRW 70.3 billion (USD 52 million) with a U.S.-based AI fabless company to develop a next-generation AI inference accelerator.
The project marks SEMIFIVE’s first "Spec Hand-off" engagement in the North American market. The contract alone represents more than 40% of the company’s total orders of KRW 168.4 billion in 2025 and approximately 60% of the KRW 118.9 billion in new orders secured during the first half of 2026, making it SEMIFIVE’s largest single contract to date. This major project win strengthens SEMIFIVE’s presence in North America while reinforcing its technological competitiveness in the global custom AI semiconductor (ASIC) market.
Under SEMIFIVE’s Spec Hand-off model, customers only need to provide their key performance requirements and specifications. SEMIFIVE takes full responsibility for the entire development process, including detailed design, software development, packaging, testing, and mass production. Unlike conventional turnkey engagements, in which customers typically complete the chip design before outsourcing subsequent implementation and manufacturing processes, SEMIFIVE takes the lead from an earlier stage of chip development.
Specialized ASIC companies are playing a broader role from the requirements stage across the global custom semiconductor market. Major technology companies including Google and Amazon, for example, have worked with semiconductor companies such as Broadcom and Marvell to develop their own AI silicon.
For this project, SEMIFIVE will integrate advanced technologies to deliver the high memory bandwidth and data processing performance required for large-scale AI model inference while reducing power consumption and total cost of ownership (TCO). The accelerator will adopt LPDDR6, a next-generation low-power DRAM technology, to reduce memory-related power consumption, along with PCIe Gen5 to minimize bottlenecks in high-volume data transfers. Drawing on its experience with multiple Big Die projects of up to 800 mm², SEMIFIVE also plans to implement an architecture designed to deliver both high compute throughput and operational stability.
Following tape-out in the first half of 2027, the two companies plan to begin global mass production in 2028, targeting global hyperscalers and cloud service providers (CSPs).
"As the AI inference market continues to expand rapidly, demand is accelerating for custom silicon optimized for each customer’s services and workloads," said Brandon Cho, CEO and Co-founder of SEMIFIVE. "By successfully commercializing this next-generation inference accelerator and improving the economics of large-scale AI models, we aim to establish SEMIFIVE as an essential custom silicon development partner for the global hyperscale infrastructure market."
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