Google Discussed Dropping Broadcom as AI Chips Supplier

A smartphone with a displayed Broadcom logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
A smartphone with a displayed Broadcom logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Google Discussed Dropping Broadcom as AI Chips Supplier

A smartphone with a displayed Broadcom logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
A smartphone with a displayed Broadcom logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Alphabet-owned Google has discussed dropping Broadcom as a supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) chips as early as 2027, The Information reported on Thursday, sending Broadcom shares down 5% in premarket trading.
If that happens, Google will design the chips - known as tensor processing units - in-house, the report said, adding that executives set a goal earlier this year to ditch Broadcom following a standoff between the companies over the price Broadcom was charging for the chips, Reuters said.
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan recently said that generative AI could account for more than 25% of the company's semiconductor revenue next year.
Google has intensified investments in generative AI this year as it plays catch-up after Microsoft-backed OpenAI's launch of ChatGPT last year took the tech world by storm.
The Information also said that Google has been working since last year to replace Broadcom with chipmaker Marvell Technology for an advanced chip internally code-named Granite Redux.
Google, Broadcom and Marvell didn't immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.



X Names Brazil Legal Representative as It Fights Ban in the Country

A view of a laptop shows the Twitter sign-in page with their logo, in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, July 24, 2023. (AP)
A view of a laptop shows the Twitter sign-in page with their logo, in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, July 24, 2023. (AP)
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X Names Brazil Legal Representative as It Fights Ban in the Country

A view of a laptop shows the Twitter sign-in page with their logo, in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, July 24, 2023. (AP)
A view of a laptop shows the Twitter sign-in page with their logo, in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, July 24, 2023. (AP)

Elon Musk-owned social media platform X has named a legal representative in Brazil, the firm's lawyers said on Friday, in a move that would address one of the demands imposed by Brazil's top court to allow the company to operate in the country.

Andre Zonaro and Sergio Rosenthal, who were recently appointed as X's lawyers in Brazil, told Reuters that colleague Rachel de Oliveira Conceicao was chosen as the firm's legal representative, and that they had submitted her name to the Supreme Court.

Brazilian law requires foreign companies to name a legal representative to operate in the country. The representative would assume the legal responsibilities for the firm locally.

X had a legal representative in Brazil until mid-August, when it decided to close its offices in the country.

In late August, Brazil's top court ordered mobile and internet service providers to block X in the nation, and users were cut off within hours after X did not name a new legal representative.

The move followed a months-long dispute between Musk and Brazilian Justice Alexandre de Moraes over the firm's non-compliance with court orders demanding the platform take action against the spread of hate speech.

Courts have previously blocked accounts implicated in probes of spreading misinformation and hate, which Musk has denounced as censorship.

On Thursday, the lawyers representing X in Brazil said the firm was starting to comply with orders on removing content, another demand from the top court.