Anthropic is discussing a new custom chip with Samsung

Last April, Reuters reported that Anthropic was considering the idea of ​​producing its own AI chips as a way to respond to the chip shortage. Now, it seems that the company is getting serious about this idea.

On Thursday, The Information reported that Anthropic had been in contact with Samsung to explore collaboration around the pending chip. However, Anthropic has not yet decided what the chip will be used for, how it will fit into the server, or how powerful it will be, according to the report.

When reached for comment, Anthropic told TechCrunch that its diverse hardware portfolio that includes chips from Google, Amazon and Nvidia will remain central to its computing strategy. Regarding the issue of a possible partnership with Samsung, the company said that it had nothing to add.

A number of AI companies have sought to develop custom chips — as a way to create unique hardware for specific computing tasks and gain a certain amount of independence from Nvidia, which remains the undisputed leader in the chip industry.

Anthropic’s announcement may also be a response to an announcement made last week by its main rival OpenAI, which teamed up with Broadcom to announce its custom-built inference processor, dubbed the “Jalapeño.” OpenAI says the chip is more efficient, indicating better performance per watt, than other competing chips. Amazon and Google both offer custom-designed TPUs as part of their cloud offerings.

Samsung is already embedded in the AI ​​industry, and serves as a major partner for Nvidia, producing the chips the company needs to train or run its AI models. In contrast, Samsung uses Nvidia software to manufacture its chips. The duo works at an AI chip factory in South Korea. Samsung has also discussed partnering with Google in its chip manufacturing efforts.