Five Organizations Partner to Develop 2nm Medical AI Inference Chip

Five organizations, including LSTC, Fujifilm, and GE Healthcare, have partnered under a Japanese NEDO project to develop a 2nm low-power AI inference chip for medical imaging applications. The collaboration aims to deliver over 5 times the image processing speed and 10 times the energy efficiency of existing GPUs. This collaboration represents a significant application of cutting-edge semiconductor nodes to healthcare, enabling real-time diagnostic and surgical support that could transform patient care. It also strengthens Japan's domestic semiconductor ecosystem through strategic cross-industry partnerships. The chip will be used for applications such as real-time photon-counting CT reconstruction, ultrasound and CT/MRI image overlay, and intraoperative microscopic navigation. The partners plan to initially optimize development on IBM's Spyre accelerator before migrating to the final silicon.