Anthropic in talks with Samsung to develop custom AI chip
What's the story
Anthropic, an artificial intelligence (AI) company, is in talks with tech giant Samsung Electronics to produce a custom AI chip, according to The Information. The move comes as part of Anthropic's strategy to tackle chip shortages and meet the growing demand for its services. The collaboration could also challenge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)'s dominance in the foundry market if Samsung secures the contract.
Strategic moves
Chip development efforts intensified with key hire
The project is still in its early stages, with no detailed design or manufacturing work yet. However, Anthropic has bolstered its chip development by hiring Clive Chan, an early member of OpenAI's custom silicon team. This move is part of a broader industry trend where major AI companies are designing proprietary chips to reduce reliance on third-party suppliers.
Strategy
NVIDIA dominates AI chip market
Despite the growing competition, NVIDIA continues to dominate the AI chip market with an estimated 74% share. Anthropic has said that Amazon's Trainium chip, Google's tensor processing units, and NVIDIA graphics processors will remain central to its computing strategy. The company has not commented on its chip plans but is exploring partnerships for custom AI chip production, potentially with Samsung Electronics.
Industry exploration
Industry-wide shift toward custom chip production
The move comes as other tech giants like Meta and OpenAI are also exploring designing their own AI chips. The latter has also unveiled its first custom AI chip, named Jalapeno, in collaboration with Broadcom. South Korea has also held early talks with Anthropic on AI cooperation. The growing interest in custom chip production highlights the industry's efforts to diversify supplies and meet surging demand for their services.