Meta in talks with Samsung for AI chip manufacturing

Meta is negotiating with Samsung Electronics to manufacture its third-generation MTIA AI chips, according to Seoul Economic Daily.sedaily
The partnership would extend to joint chip design, as Meta targets a new chip generation every six months and seeks to reduce reliance on Nvidia GPUs.sedaily+1
Anthropic is also evaluating Samsung's 2nm process for a custom AI chip, boosting expectations of a foundry turnaround after years trailing TSMC.finance.yahoo+1

Meta Platforms is in advanced negotiations with Samsung Electronics to manufacture its next-generation MTIA artificial intelligence chips using Samsung's 2-nanometer fabrication process, in a contract reportedly worth more than 10 trillion won (approximately $6.5 billion), according to South Korea's Seoul Economic Daily.sedaily

The deal would mark a departure from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. , which produced the first two generations of Meta's in-house MTIA accelerators. Samsung Foundry has been selected as the manufacturing partner starting with the third-generation MTIA chip, with plans to mass-produce hundreds of thousands of units on Samsung's 2nm process.sedaily

A Design Partnership Beyond Manufacturing

The arrangement extends beyond contract manufacturing. Meta has established a collaboration framework with Samsung's System LSI division for joint chip development from the early architecture design stage, according to Seoul Economic Daily. Meta concluded that its in-house chip design workforce alone could not sustain an aggressive development cycle targeting a new chip generation every six months.sedaily

Meta unveiled four MTIA chips earlier this year — the MTIA 300, 400, 450, and 500 — as part of its push to reduce reliance on Nvidia GPUs for AI workloads. The company also announced an expanded partnership with Broadcom in April to co-develop future MTIA generations.cnbc+2

Samsung Foundry's AI Pivot

The Meta negotiations come alongside reports that Anthropic is evaluating Samsung's 2nm process for its first custom AI chip, according to The Information. Though those discussions remain at an early stage, the two potential clients have fueled expectations that Samsung Foundry is approaching a turning point after years of trailing TSMC in advanced manufacturing.finance.yahoo+1

Industry officials told Seoul Economic Daily that Samsung Foundry's medium- to long-term order backlog could approach 50 trillion won, and that an operating profit for the foundry division could arrive as early as the fourth quarter of this year. Samsung participated in Anthropic's $65 billion Series H funding round in May, establishing a strategic partnership.sedaily

Broader Context

The developments align with Samsung Group's broader investment push. Samsung and SK Group recently pledged a combined 800 trillion won to build new chipmaking plants in southwestern South Korea as part of a national AI infrastructure drive announced alongside President Lee Jae Myung.reuters+1

Meta, which is targeting 5 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2030, is also reportedly exploring entry into the cloud services business, with MTIA chips serving as the core computing hardware.sedaily

Sources (15)