Google could be peering in MediaTek’s direction for next set of AI chips

nandika.iyerravi@futurenet.com (Nandika Ravi)
2025-03-17 15:08:00
www.androidcentral.com

What you need to know

Google could be collaborating with MediaTek to produce its next-generation Tensor chips.
An internal source stated that the company would be relying on the Taiwan chipmaker for an economical way of producing its in-house chips.
After nearly a decade of working with Broadcom, Google is looking at broadening its choices.

Google seems to be looking in a different direction for its next set of AI chips. According to a report by The Information, the tech giant could be collaborating with Taiwan’s chip maker MediaTek.

These chips also known as Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), would be produced sometime next year, sources close to the project told the publication. It is important to note that Google makes its chips that help train its AI models. However, it relies on Broadcom, an American chip company, to design its TPUs with the help of blueprints provided by Google. This has been the case ever since Google produced its first-gen TPU back in 2015.

However, now, after almost a decade of working together, it has decided to broaden its reach. This collab with MediaTek doesn’t indicate Google breaking ties with Broadcom but is being frugal about how much it spends on designing its TPUs.

As of today, Google TPUs are custom-designed chips used for training large AI models like Gemini and are ideal for training chatbots, code generation, media content generation, and personalization models, among others. It also produces another kind of TPU that deals with “interference needs” and powers its existing services like Search and YouTube, The Information added.

Google Cloud TPU

(Image credit: Android Central)

The reason it could be making the switch to MediaTek could be because it charges less per chip compared to Broadcom and has a strong relationship with TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited), The Information stated.

An internal source told the publication that it might be doing things differently with MediaTek; it will handle most of the design of its next TPU, including the processor. “MediaTek will aim to handle what are known as input/output modules, which manage the communication between the main processors and peripheral components, said one of the two people involved in the project.”

But much like Broadcom, it will handle the chip production process, “which includes packaging and quality testing,” another source from Google’s TPU team told the Information.

Last year, Google seems to have spent between $6 billion and $9 billion to create one of the most powerful 6th-generation TPUs, according to Reuters. But if it does take the MediaTek route, it could be spending much less and will also give Google an upper hand over other AI companies like ChatGPT and Microsoft, which both rely on American-based chipmakers.

Android Central has reached out to both Google and MediaTek about this and will update the article when we have more information.

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