Prominent tech firms are initiating efforts to create alternative AI chips in response to the disruptions caused by DeepSeek.
The entry of DeepSeek, a Chinese firm, into the AI chip sector has led top technology companies to hasten their development of in-house processors and lessen their dependence on Nvidia, which currently dominates around eighty percent of the global AI chip market.
Prominent players such as OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Apple are now pushing forward plans to create chips that meet the requirements of their next-generation artificial intelligence models.
OpenAI, closely linked to the generative AI movement, is in the process of designing its own AI chip to reduce its reliance on Nvidia.
In January, OpenAI, in partnership with SoftBank and Oracle, and backed by President
Donald Trump, embarked on an initiative named StarGate.
This project, estimated at half a trillion dollars, aims to establish a comprehensive artificial intelligence computing infrastructure within the United States.
Sources indicate that OpenAI is nearing the completion of its design and anticipates finishing it in the coming months, after which the initiative will progress to experimental production and testing by Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC.
The experimental production phase is projected to cost several tens of millions of dollars and last approximately six months, with plans for mass production set for 2026.
In the meantime, Meta is negotiating the acquisition of South Korean AI chip startup FuriosaAI, with reports indicating that an agreement may be reached soon.
Additionally, Meta has unveiled a new generation of AI chips, known as the Meta Training and Inference Accelerator, tailored for conventional artificial intelligence functions like running recommendation models.
Microsoft is concurrently working on a variety of chip products aimed at enhancing the performance of AI models and its data centers.
In a similar vein, Amazon is creating an ecosystem of AI chips for its extensive cloud services division and revealed its latest AI training and operational chip, Trainium Three, in December.
Trainium Three is based on technology from the Israeli firm Annapurna, which Amazon acquired in 2015 for $370 million, and is slated for release later this year.
Google is incorporating its AI models into the creation of its own AI chips, a project spearheaded by its DeepMind division, which focuses on automating chip design.
Apple is also ramping up its chip development initiatives.
Reports in December indicated that Apple's team responsible for the proprietary M chip is now leading the charge on its first server chip aimed at AI applications.
This effort involves collaboration with chip manufacturer Broadcom on networking technology, with mass production slated to begin in 2026 following an agreement with TSMC.
These initiatives signify a strategic transformation among major tech companies seeking to gain greater control over their computing resources and potentially challenge Nvidia's supremacy in the AI chip arena.
These moves are regarded as a reaction to the evolving landscape of AI model development, partially shaped by the cost-efficient strategy demonstrated by DeepSeek’s R1 model.