Google wins AI ( Artificial Intelligence ) The large chip order demonstrates the application potential of its self-developed TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) chip.
On October 23 local time, AI startup Anthropic announced a partnership with Google to deploy up to 1 million Google TPU chips to train its AI model Claude. This expansion plan is worth tens of billions of dollars, with a projected computing capacity of 1GW (gigawatt) by 2026.
Regarding this collaboration, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian stated, "Anthropic's decision to significantly expand its TPU usage reflects its team's long-standing recognition of the TPU's cost-effectiveness and efficiency. We will continue to innovate to further improve the efficiency and capacity of TPUs, building upon our mature portfolio of AI accelerator products, including the seventh-generation TPU Ironwood."
Anthropic's Chief Financial Officer, Krishna Rao, stated, "Anthropic has a long-standing partnership with Google, and this expansion will help us continue to enhance our computing power to define the forefront of AI."
Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives, Anthropic positions itself as a "safety-first" AI company. Its Claude series of large language models is considered one of the main competitors to OpenAI's ChatGPT. A month ago, Anthropic completed a $13 billion funding round, valuing the company at $183 billion.
As a long-term partner, Google has invested approximately $3 billion in Anthropic, including $2 billion in 2023 and $1 billion earlier this year.
For Google, this collaboration not only strengthens its partnership with Anthropic but also helps demonstrate the versatility of its self-developed TPU chip. The TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) is a self-developed AI-specific ASIC unveiled by Google in 2016, primarily used to accelerate the training and inference of machine learning models, especially deep learning tasks based on Google's open-source machine learning platform, TensorFlow.
Currently, AI chips The field is still dominated by Nvidia GPUs dominate the market. Mark Lohmeyer, Google's vice president and general manager of computing and AI infrastructure, revealed last year that the development of TPUs was initially aimed at alleviating computing power pressure and reducing the purchase of external chips.
Since 2018, Google has been selling TPU computing power through Google Cloud. Currently, major public customers for TPUs include Salesforce, Safe Superintelligence, Midjourney, and Anthropic.
Anthropic's decision to increase the deployment of TPUs can be seen as a significant endorsement of Google's chip technology and a victory for Google Cloud. Google Cloud's market share has consistently lagged behind Amazon's. and Microsoft Once TPU gains recognition, it may attract other AI startups and new customers to Google Cloud.
Jay Goldberg, an analyst at Seaport Research Partners, said that Google’s collaboration with Anthropic is “a really strong technical validation of the TPU” and could attract more companies to try the technology: “Many people are already thinking about this, and now there are probably more people joining in.”
According to Google's second-quarter financial report ending June 30, Google Cloud's growth accelerated in the second quarter, with revenue increasing by 32% year-over-year to $13.624 billion from $10.347 billion in the same period last year. In September, Google Cloud also revealed that more than half of its $106 billion order backlog is expected to convert into revenue within the next two years.
However, it appears that Nvidia 's position in the GPU market remains unshakeable. Gartner analyst Gaurav Gupta stated that although Google has its own chip development capabilities, it remains one of Nvidia's largest customers due to its need to maintain flexibility for its clients. Compared to TPUs, GPUs can handle a wider range of workloads and can adapt to changes in customers' algorithms or models.
On the 23rd, Google (Nasdaq: GOOGL) shares rose 0.55% to close at $253.08 per share, with a total market capitalization of $3.07 trillion. Following news of the partnership with Anthropic, Google's after-hours stock price rose by more than 1% at one point.
(Source: The Paper)
