custom silicon
30 articles about custom silicon in AI news
Qualcomm Ships Hyperscaler Custom Silicon by December 2026
Qualcomm is developing custom silicon for an unnamed hyperscaler, with shipments expected December 2026, marking its most concrete data-center comeback move.
Qualcomm Builds Dedicated CPU for Agentic AI, Enters Hyperscale Silicon Market
Qualcomm CEO revealed dedicated CPU for agentic AI, custom silicon deal with hyperscaler shipping Dec 2026, and agentic smartphones. Pivot challenges GPU-centric AI infrastructure consensus.
Nvidia's Next-Gen AI Rack Delayed to 2028, SemiAnalysis Says
Nvidia's next-gen AI rack delayed to 2028 on manufacturing snags per SemiAnalysis. Delay benefits AMD and custom silicon rivals.
Nvidia Invests $2B in Marvell to Deepen NVLink Fusion Tie-Up
Nvidia invested $2B in Marvell to deepen NVLink Fusion partnership, integrating Marvell custom silicon into AI interconnect fabric.
Google Splits TPU Line: 8t for Training, 8i for Inference
At Cloud Next 2026, Google introduced two new AI chips — TPU 8t for training and TPU 8i for inference — splitting its custom silicon for the first time. OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta are buying multi-gigawatt TPU capacity, signaling a crack in NVIDIA's 81% market share.
Google, Marvell in Talks to Co-Develop New AI Chips, Including TPU-Optimized MPU
Google is reportedly in talks with Marvell Technology to co-develop two new AI chips: a memory processing unit (MPU) to pair with TPUs and a new, optimized TPU. This move is a direct effort to bolster Google's custom silicon stack and compete with Nvidia's dominance.
Meta Expands Broadcom Partnership for Next-Gen AI Infrastructure
Meta is expanding its partnership with semiconductor giant Broadcom to co-develop its next-generation AI infrastructure. This move signals a continued, long-term commitment to custom silicon for AI training and inference.
Amazon Designs Custom AI Silicon for Future Devices, Panay Says
Amazon hardware chief Panos Panay confirmed Amazon is designing its own end-to-end silicon for some devices, signaling a strategic push into custom AI hardware.
Meta Custom AMD MI400 Half-Size Chip Targets RecSys, 144GB HBM
Meta custom AMD MI400 half-size chip uses 144GB HBM, targeting recsys workloads for lower cost and power.
DeepSeek, Zhipu AI Build Custom Inference Chips to Cut GPU Dependency
DeepSeek and Zhipu AI are developing custom inference chips to cut GPU costs. China's domestic chip budget share hit 46% in July 2026.
Upscale AI Raises $500M for AI-Native Networking Silicon
Upscale AI raised $500M for AI networking silicon, with Google Cloud as a strategic partner. The deal targets GPU cluster interconnect bottlenecks.
Qualcomm Launches AI Data Center Program With Hyperscaler Customer
Qualcomm launched an AI data center program with a major hyperscaler customer, targeting inference workloads. Financial terms and partner identity undisclosed.
Apple Ditches Apple Silicon Pledge, Routes AI Queries to Google Cloud
Apple routes AI queries to Google Cloud, breaking 2024 Apple silicon pledge. Distilled Gemini runs locally; heavier queries use Nvidia tech in Google Cloud.
GUC, Wiwynn Partner on Silicon-to-System AI Infrastructure for Hyperscalers
GUC and Wiwynn partner on silicon-to-system AI infrastructure, integrating SoC design, optical I/O, and liquid cooling for hyperscalers.
SemiAnalysis: NVIDIA's Customer Data Drives Disaggregated Inference, LPU Surpasses GPU
SemiAnalysis states NVIDIA's direct customer feedback is leading the industry toward disaggregated inference architectures. In this model, specialized LPUs can outperform GPUs for specific pipeline tasks.
MLX-Benchmark Suite Launches as First Comprehensive LLM Eval for Apple Silicon
The MLX-Benchmark Suite has been released as the first comprehensive evaluation framework for Large Language Models running on Apple's MLX framework. It provides standardized metrics for models optimized for Apple Silicon hardware.
MLX-VLM Adds Continuous Batching, OpenAI API, and Vision Cache for Apple Silicon
The next release of MLX-VLM will introduce continuous batching, an OpenAI-compatible API, and vision feature caching for multimodal models running locally on Apple Silicon. These optimizations promise up to 228x speedups on cache hits for models like Gemma4.
Anthropic Considers Custom AI Chips, Following Google & OpenAI
Anthropic is reportedly considering developing custom AI chips, a strategic move to gain control over its compute infrastructure and reduce costs. This follows similar initiatives by Google, Amazon, and OpenAI.
Qwen3-TTS Added to mlx-tune, Enabling Full Qwen Model Fine-Tuning on Apple Silicon Macs
The mlx-tune library now supports Qwen3-TTS, making the entire Qwen model stack—including the new text-to-speech model—fine-tunable on Apple Silicon Macs. This expands local AI development options for researchers and developers.
Nvidia's Jensen Huang Dismisses Custom AI Chip Threat: 'Science Projects' Versus 'AI Factories'
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang confidently dismissed concerns about custom AI chips challenging Nvidia's dominance, framing competitors' efforts as 'science projects' while Nvidia builds revenue-generating 'AI factories' with a complete platform approach.
RunAnywhere's MetalRT Engine Delivers Breakthrough AI Performance on Apple Silicon
RunAnywhere has launched MetalRT, a proprietary GPU inference engine that dramatically accelerates on-device AI workloads on Apple Silicon. Their open-source RCLI tool demonstrates sub-200ms voice AI pipelines, outperforming existing solutions like llama.cpp and Apple's MLX.
Apple Reportedly Developing 'Balta' AI ASIC for Cloud Compute
A Morgan Stanley report indicates Apple is accelerating development of a custom ASIC, codenamed 'Balta,' for AI cloud and hybrid compute. This marks Apple's first known move to design silicon for its data centers, not just consumer devices.
Google Posts First Negative Free Cash Flow Since 2004 IPO as AI Capex Hits
Alphabet posted negative free cash flow of $5.9B in Q2 2026 as AI capex doubled to $44.9B, exceeding operating cash flow. CFO raised 2026 guidance to $195B–$205B and began selling TPU systems directly to customers.
Nvidia Vera CPU Hits SPECrate 2026: 1.7× AMD Epyc 9755
Nvidia's Vera CPU scored 1.7× SPECrate integer 2026 vs AMD Epyc 9755. First custom core for agentic AI, H2 2026 release.
zAI Completes 1-Gigawatt AI Data Center Without Nvidia Chips
zAI built a 1GW AI data center in China with no Nvidia chips, using only domestic silicon. It supports frontier GLM model development and has begun operations.
Microsoft to Deploy AMD Helios Rack-Scale AI at Scale on Azure
Microsoft will deploy AMD's Helios rack-scale AI accelerator at scale on Azure, powered by MI455X GPUs and Epyc Venice CPUs. The move diversifies Azure's AI silicon beyond Nvidia.
Google’s Frozen v2 chip: 6–10× tokens/W for Gemini, 2028 target
Google is developing Frozen v2, a chip freezing Gemini architecture into silicon for 6–10× tokens/W, deployment as early as 2028, driven by compute shortage.
Chinese Team Claims Carbon Nanotube CFET Breakthrough; Challenges TSMC at 2nm
Chinese team claims 3x carbon nanotube CFET gain over silicon at 2nm, bypassing EUV. No peer review; skepticism warranted.
Amazon’s Alexa Now Shows 365-Day Price History for Shopping
Amazon expanded Alexa for Shopping to show 30, 90, and 365 days of price history. Over 50 million customers have used the feature since 2024, enhancing deal confidence.
OpenAI-Broadcom Chip Hints at Token Price Collapse
OpenAI and Broadcom are co-developing a custom AI inference chip that could cut token prices by an order of magnitude, per @mweinbach. The chip targets inference workloads, not training, and aims to reduce dependency on Nvidia.