Anthropic in talks with Samsung to manufacture custom AI chip
Anthropic is in early talks to have Samsung manufacture its own custom AI chip, according to reports. Samsung is the only Anthropic memory partner with a foundry, and it and SK hynix recently took stakes in the firm at a $965B valuation. A deal would give Samsung's loss-making fo
The race to design custom AI chips has a new pairing. Anthropic is in early talks to have Samsung Electronics manufacture its own bespoke AI processor, according to reporting from The Information that was picked up by Bloomberg and Korean outlets. The plans are described as preliminary, with Anthropic still deciding what the chip should do, how powerful it should be and how it fits into a server. Samsung matters here for a specific reason: it is the only one of Anthropic's memory partners that also runs a contract chip foundry, giving it a path to both supply memory and fabricate logic. The talks follow strategic investments by Samsung and SK hynix in Anthropic, in a funding round that valued the AI company at $965 billion. A deal would hand Samsung's foundry business, which has run at a loss for several years, a marquee customer at a moment when it is trying to return to profit. It also fits a broader pattern of large AI developers seeking alternatives to buying general-purpose GPUs, designing silicon tuned to their own models to control cost and supply. Nothing is finalized, and early-stage chip talks often shift before any contract is signed.