Google sells AI chips to external customers

The search company is selling its AI semiconductors to external customers for the first time. Anthropic and other companies order for billions. But a high hurdle remains.

Google chips: The Internet company is striving for market share with its own semiconductors.

Munich, San Francisco. Google is pushing into the growing semiconductor business – and is increasingly giving global market leader Nvidia competition. “Chips will be part of our growth story,” said Matt Renner, Chief Revenue Officer of Google Cloud, to Handelsblatt.

Google has been using self-developed chips in its data centers for some time. The American tech group now also sells the components to external customers. Renner: “We are opening up a new market.”

Rival Microsoft also uses self-designed chips, but has so far only used them internally. Amazon says it is negotiating the sale of its chips with external parties, but has not yet announced a deal.

Google is different: The company is trying to take market share from the established semiconductor providers, especially Nvidia. The chances of this are basically good, says Peter Fintl, chip expert at the technology consultancy Capgemini: “Nvidia customers are desperately looking for alternatives.”

Nvidia dominates the market for AI accelerators. The US company's graphics processors are essential for training and operating generative AI. For years, the semiconductor manufacturer has held a market share of around 90 percent with its graphics processors (GPUs).