The push to break Nvidia's AI chip monopoly is gaining momentum. According to The Information, AI startup Anthropic, creator of the Claude model, is in discussions with Samsung Electronics to produce custom AI chips. If realized, Anthropic would deploy the chips in its own servers for Claude's inference workloads.
Anthropic Eyes Custom Silicon, Samsung Seeks Foundry Win
Sources familiar with the matter said Anthropic has entered the early stage of developing application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The company, founded by former OpenAI executives and backed by Amazon and Google, plans to use chips tailored to its neural network architectures. For Samsung, which has been struggling to catch up with TSMC in advanced process nodes, winning an order from a high-profile AI player like Anthropic would be a significant boost.
Nvidia's Market Stranglehold vs. Bespoke AI Chips
Anthropic's move reflects widespread unease across the AI industry about over-reliance on a single GPU supplier. Nvidia commands roughly 74% of the global AI chip market, the report said. While off-the-shelf Nvidia GPUs offer versatility, they come with high per-unit costs (tens of thousands of dollars) and supply chain risks. Custom ASICs, though requiring hefty upfront R&D, promise lower long-term operational costs and better energy efficiency for specific workloads like Claude's inference.
Compute Independence Becomes Industry Trend
As large language models grow in size, inference costs have become the heaviest burden for AI firms. Purchasing expensive GPUs is a quick path to market, but scaling up demands custom silicon. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and even OpenAI are all developing their own AI accelerators. Anthropic's chip project remains in early stages, with tape-out and mass deployment likely years away. Still, the undercurrent of de-Nvidia-ization is steadily eroding the chip giant's pricing power and market dominance.
Related coverage: California state agencies get half-price access to Claude under a deal with Anthropic; Anthropic's Fable 5 model draws scrutiny from Trump; Nobel laureate John Jumper leaves DeepMind for Anthropic.