Google Preparing to Partner with Taiwan's MediaTek on Next AI chip, Information Reports

A signage for Google is displayed near their office in Beijing, China, 04 February 2025. (EPA)
A signage for Google is displayed near their office in Beijing, China, 04 February 2025. (EPA)
TT
20

Google Preparing to Partner with Taiwan's MediaTek on Next AI chip, Information Reports

A signage for Google is displayed near their office in Beijing, China, 04 February 2025. (EPA)
A signage for Google is displayed near their office in Beijing, China, 04 February 2025. (EPA)

Alphabet's Google is preparing to partner with Taiwan's MediaTek on the next version of its AI chips, Tensor Processing Units, that will be made next year, the Information reported on Monday, citing people involved in the project.

However, Google has not cut ties with Broadcom, the chip designer it has worked with exclusively on the AI chips over the past several years, the report said, citing an employee at the San Jose-based company.

Like Nvidia,. Google also designs its own AI server chips, which it uses for internal research and development and also rents out to cloud customers, Reuters reported.

This approach gives Google a competitive edge in the AI race by reducing its reliance on Nvidia, even as rivals like Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Meta Platforms have seen a surge in demand for Nvidia chips.

Late last year, Google rolled out its sixth-generation TPU in a bid to give itself and its Cloud customers an alternative to Nvidia's chips, which are the most sought-after processors in the industry.

Google chose MediaTek partly because the Taiwanese firm has a strong relationship with TSMC and charges Google less per chip compared to Broadcom, the Information report added.

Google spent between $6 billion and $9 billion on TPUs last year, according to research firm Omdia, based on Broadcom's target for AI semiconductor revenue last year.



Google Hopes to Reach Gemini Deal with Apple this Year

FILE PHOTO: Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks to media following his meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk (not pictured) at Google Campus in Warsaw, Poland, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks to media following his meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk (not pictured) at Google Campus in Warsaw, Poland, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel/File Photo
TT
20

Google Hopes to Reach Gemini Deal with Apple this Year

FILE PHOTO: Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks to media following his meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk (not pictured) at Google Campus in Warsaw, Poland, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks to media following his meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk (not pictured) at Google Campus in Warsaw, Poland, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel/File Photo

Google hopes to enter an agreement with Apple by the middle of this year to include its Gemini AI technology on new phones, CEO Sundar Pichai said in testimony at an antitrust trial in Washington on Wednesday.
Pichai testified in the Alphabet unit's defense against proposals by the US Department of Justice which include ending lucrative deals with Apple, Samsung, AT&T and Verizon to be the default search engine on new mobile devices, Reuters reported.
During questioning by DOJ attorney Veronica Onyema, Pichai said that while Google does not yet have an agreement with Apple to include its Gemini AI on iPhones, Pichai spoke with Apple CEO Tim Cook about the possibility last year.
A potential deal this year would see Google's Gemini AI included within Apple Intelligence, Apple's own set of AI features, Pichai said.
Google also plans to experiment with including ads in its Gemini app, Pichai said.
Prosecutors have sought to illustrate how Google could extend its dominance in online search to AI. Google maintained its monopoly in part by paying billions of dollars to wireless carriers and smartphone manufacturers, US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled last year.
The judge is now weighing what actions Google should take to restore competition. The outcome of the case could fundamentally reshape the internet by potentially unseating Google as the go-to portal for information online.
The DOJ and a broad coalition of state attorneys general are pressing for remedies including requiring Google to sell off its Chrome web browser, banning it from paying to be the default search engine and requiring it to share search data with competitors.
The data-sharing provisions would discourage Google from investing in research and development, Pichai testified on Wednesday.
Provisions that would require the company to share its search index and search query data are "extraordinary," and amount to a "defacto divestiture of our IP related to search," Pichai said.
"It would be trivial to reverse engineer and effectively build Google search from the outside," he said.
That would make it "unviable to invest in R&D the way we have for the past two decades," Pichai added.
Google has said it plans to appeal once the judge makes a final ruling.