TSMC, chip design software firms tap AI to help chips use less energy

The computing chips that power artificial intelligence consume a lot of electricity. On Wednesday, the world’s biggest manufacturer of those chips showed off a new strategy to make them more energy efficient: Using AI-powered software to design them.

At a conference in Silicon Valley, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the contract manufacturer that fabricates chips for Nvidia, showed off a range of ways that it is hoping to boost the energy efficiency of AI computing chips by about 10 times.

Nvidia’s current flagship AI servers, for example, can…