Samsung Electronics to Produce Part of Google's AI Chip

Samsung Electronics is reportedly being considered to produce parts of Google's next-generation AI chip. U.S. IT media The Information reported on the 11th, citing multiple sources, that Google is in discussions to assign the production of key components for its self-developed 10th generation Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) to Samsung Electronics' semiconductor contract manufacturing (foundry) division.

Google is reportedly considering a plan to split the production of major components for this chip, known by the codename 'Ispfish,' between Taiwan's TSMC and Samsung Electronics. The most likely scenario involves TSMC manufacturing the main processor, which handles computational functions, using its latest 1.4nm process. Samsung Electronics is expected to produce the memory input/output (I/O) chip that connects this main processor and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) using its 2nm process. In the latest AI chips, the role of connecting components that facilitate data communication between the processing unit and memory has become extremely crucial for continuously processing vast amounts of data, and Samsung Electronics is anticipated to be responsible for producing these I/O dies.

This potential contract would be a boon for Samsung Electronics as it pursues TSMC in the foundry sector. The AI boom has led to a surge in semiconductor orders, causing large tech companies seeking supply chain diversification to increasingly turn to Samsung Electronics. Last year, Samsung Electronics secured a $16.5 billion contract to produce Tesla's next-generation AI chips and has been strengthening its AI chip production capabilities by also producing Groq's Language Processing Unit (LPU) for Nvidia platforms. Samsung Electronics did not respond to requests for comment regarding the report.