Anthropic, the AI company, has reportedly been in talks with Samsung to explore developing a custom chip. The Information published the report on Thursday; Reuters previously wrote in April that Anthropic was considering producing its own chips as a response to chip shortages.
What is known so far
According to the report, Anthropic has not decided what the chip would be used for, how it would be integrated into servers, or how powerful it would be. Several AI firms pursue bespoke chips both to tailor hardware to specific compute tasks and to reduce dependence on Nvidia, the current dominant supplier in the chip market.
When asked for comment, Anthropic told TechCrunch that a diversified hardware stack that includes chips from Google, Amazon, and Nvidia will remain central to its compute strategy. The company declined to add further details about a potential Samsung partnership.
Industry context and competitors
The timing may relate to a recent announcement by Anthropic’s competitor OpenAI, which partnered with Broadcom to unveil its own custom inference processor called “Jalapeño.” OpenAI has said that Jalapeño delivers improved performance-per-watt compared with other competitor chips.
Other cloud providers, notably Amazon and Google, offer custom-built TPUs as part of their services. Samsung is already embedded in the AI supply chain as a major partner of Nvidia: it manufactures chips that Nvidia needs to train and run AI models, while also using Nvidia’s software in its own manufacturing processes. The two companies are collaborating on an AI chip factory in South Korea. Samsung has also been reported to have discussed chipmaking partnerships with Google.
Why this matters
A potential Anthropic–Samsung collaboration would signal continued industry momentum toward custom silicon as companies seek greater performance and supply resilience amid rising compute demands. At the same time, Anthropic’s stated commitment to a mixed hardware stack indicates it is not abandoning existing suppliers and is still evaluating the role and specifications of any custom chip.
Next steps
The Information’s report indicates discussions are underway, but concrete details are lacking. Further announcements from Anthropic or Samsung will be needed to clarify the chip’s intended use, technical targets, and any manufacturing timeline.
