微小的芯片帮助人工智能数据中心从能源电网获取电力，而这些芯片的进步可能有助于数据中心降低用电量。CNN 罕见地深入了解了这些芯片的制造过程。
Tiny chips help AI data centers harness power from the energy grid and advancements in these chips could help data centers use less power. CNN got a rare look at how these chips are made.
丽莎·埃迪奇科：这是为了确保没有东西进入晶圆厂并干扰芯片制造过程。我觉得在这件事上，我甚至能在末日中幸存下来。随着人工智能数据中心的增多，对电力的需求也随之激增，这引发了许多问题。谁将为这部分电力买单？
LISA EADICICCO: This is to make sure nothing gets in the fab and disrupts the chipmaking process. I feel like I could survive the apocalypse in this thing. With more AI data centers comes massive demand for electricity, and that's led to a lot of questions. Who is going to pay for that electricity?
电网能否承受这种增长？环境影响又将如何？就在我身后的这家设施所生产的芯片，可能在解决其中一些问题上发挥作用。哈桑·埃尔-赫里：所以我们所做的，是功率转换和功率输送，而且我们必须非常、非常高效地完成这项工作。丽莎·埃迪奇科：安森美是多家为数据中心制造芯片的公司之一，这些芯片能够让数据中心从电网获取电力，而这些芯片的进步最终可能帮助数据中心在使用的所有电力中获得更多的算力。
Can the power grid handle the increase? And what about the environmental impacts? The chips made in this facility right behind me could play a role in helping to address some of those questions. HASSANE EL-KHOURY: So it's a power conversion and a power delivery is what we do, and we have to do it very, very efficiently. LISA EADICICCO: Onsemi is one of several companies that makes chips for data centers to be able to harness power from the grid, and advancements in these chips could eventually help data centers get more computing power out of all that electricity they're using.
哈桑·埃尔-赫里：如果你能节省1%的能源，那么你就能为该数据中心周边的整个社区供电一整年。丽莎·埃迪奇科：埃尔-赫里解释说，这些芯片在引导电力方面的作用，就像红绿灯在管理交通流量一样。哈桑·埃尔-赫里：想象一下两个不同的城市。一个城市拥有非常完善的电网，信号灯同步运行；另一个城市则是毫无秩序的自由状态。
HASSANE EL-KHOURY: If you save 1%, you are able to power pretty much the whole community around that data center for a year. LISA EADICICCO: El-Khoury explained that the chips help direct power in the same way stoplights help manage the flow of traffic. HASSANE EL-KHOURY: Think about two different cities. One has got a very nice grid with synchronized lights, and one is just a free for all.
嗯，在有同步信号灯的电网里，你将能更高效地到达你想去的任何地方。丽莎·埃迪奇科：这些芯片本身几乎和一粒沙子一样小，而且制造过程可能需要数月时间。
Well, you're going to get wherever you want to get to more efficiently in the grid with the lights that are synchronized. LISA EADICICCO: The chips themselves are almost as tiny as a grain of sand and can take months to make.
我现在正在准备进入一个无尘室，芯片就是在那里实际印刷的，而且该环境的洁净度必须达到医院手术室的一千倍。在无尘室里，电路会被印刷到硅晶圆上，这些晶圆最终会被切割成芯片，用于数据中心和电动汽车。在这个过程中，正确清洁和准备这些晶圆至关重要，因为如果出现问题，可能会导致成千上万的芯片受到影响。
So I'm getting ready right now to go into a cleanroom, which is where the chips are actually printed and has to operate at a thousand times cleaner than a hospital operating room. In the clean room, electrical circuits are printed onto silicon wafers, which eventually get cut into chips that go into data centers and electric vehicles. It's so important in this process that these wafers are cleaned and prepped properly because if something happens to it, it could be thousands and thousands of chips that are potentially at stake.
为单个GPU供电可能需要超过一千颗安森美的芯片，而GPU正是人工智能数据中心服务器正常运行所需的芯片类型。哈桑·埃尔-赫里：无论是10步、40步还是50步，它都将在整个晶圆厂自动化地传输。丽莎·埃迪奇科：所以它的路线是根据即将生产的产品自动化的吗？哈桑·埃尔-赫里：从这一刻起，它就是自动化的。
It could take more than a thousand of Onsemi's chips to power a single GPU, the type of chip that the servers inside AI data centers need to function. HASSANE EL-KHOURY: Whether it's 10 steps or 40 or 50 steps, it will travel throughout the fab automated. LISA EADICICCO: So its route is automated based on what product is going to be? HASSANE EL-KHOURY: Automated from this moment on.
丽莎·埃迪奇科：哇。但像安森美这样的芯片只是拼图中的一块。专家表示，电网需要提升管理数据中心带来的用电需求波动的能力，而AI模型也应变得更加节能。- 没有数据中心！丽莎·埃迪奇科：与此同时，数据中心已成为全国范围内的争议焦点，因为人们正在推动将它们排除在社区之外。您个人是否曾听到过针对这些AI数据中心建设的反对声音？
LISA EADICICCO: Wow. But chips like Onsemi's are just one piece of the puzzle. Experts say the power grid needs to get better at managing fluctuations in power demand brought on by data centers, and AI models should get more power efficient. - No data center! LISA EADICICCO: In the meantime, data centers have become a divisive issue across the country, as people are pushing to keep them out of their communities. Have you ever personally heard any backlash against this AI data-center build-outs?
哈桑·埃尔-赫里：有。这让晚餐时的对话变得有点令人沮丧。我很愿意进行对话，也很愿意进行辩论。我不否认其负面影响和对社区的冲击，但这是我们必须解决的问题，而不是用来阻碍进步的门槛。
HASSANE EL-KHOURY: Yes. It makes dinner conversations a little bit frustrating. I would love to have a dialogue, and I would love to have a debate. I'm not discounting the downside and the impact on communities, but that's a problem we have to solve, not a gate to hold up.