Anthropic has reportedly begun early-stage development of its own custom artificial intelligence chip and has held preliminary discussions with Samsung Electronics to handle manufacturing.
Anthropic is currently in the foundational stages of defining the processor’s specifications, power requirements, and server cluster configurations, The Information reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
The move mirrors efforts by rivals like OpenAI to secure greater authority over the massive, expensive computing architectures required to train and run next-generation AI models.
While the San Francisco-based startup has engaged with several chip design firms, it has not yet progressed to formal blueprinting, testing, or production, stated the report.
Several hyperscalers are planning to develop their own chips to boost computing power and lower reliance on Nvidia’s (NVDA) Blackwell chips or Google’s (GOOGL) (GOOG) Tensor chips. But surging memory costs due to bloated demand have created cost concerns.
Samsung, along with its South Korean counterpart SK Hynix, is among the world’s top memory chipmakers.
Bid For Infrastructure Control
Anthropic’s exploration of custom hardware aligns with a broader industry trend where top-tier AI developers are moving to command their entire backend supply chains, ranging from silicon and cloud partnerships to energy sources and physical data centers.
To strengthen its chip-design capabilities, Anthropic has begun recruiting specialized engineering talent. The company recently hired Clive Chan, a key engineer from OpenAI’s dedicated silicon division, The Information reported.
In a statement, Anthropic said its existing partnerships remain foundational, noting that Amazon Web Services’ Trainium chips, Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), and Nvidia's graphics processors will continue to serve as core elements of its long-term computing strategy. Samsung declined to comment on the discussions.
OpenAI’s Custom Chip
Earlier in June, OpenAI unveiled its custom AI chip, developed in partnership with Broadcom (AVGO) to boost its AI infrastructure.
In collaboration with Broadcom, OpenAI engineers created "Jalapeño," a specialized chip tailored for inference. This AI process involves processing data to generate responses to user inquiries in chatbots such as ChatGPT.
Anthropic Retail View
Retail sentiment on Stocktwits was ‘bearish’ with ‘high’ message volumes.
While neither Anthropic nor OpenAI is listed yet, market-traded funds such as KraneShares Public-Private AI & Technology ETF (AGIX), Fundrise Innovation Fund (VCX), Destiny Tech100 (DXYZ), and those run by ARK Investment Management are being increasingly used by retail investors to get exposure to these stocks.