Meta to begin producing in-house AI chip 'Iris' in September

Meta plans to start manufacturing its in-house "Iris" AI chip in September, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters.reuters
The chip, designed with Broadcom and fabricated by TSMC, complements GPUs from Nvidia and AMD.globalbankingandfinance
Meta also plans a cloud business to sell excess AI computing power, a move that sent CoreWeave shares tumbling last week.bloomberg+1

Meta Platforms plans to begin manufacturing its in-house artificial intelligence chip in September and is pushing into the cloud computing business, moves that mark a new phase in the company's infrastructure strategy as it races to expand its computing capacity.

The Iris Chip

An internal memo reviewed by Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation shows that Meta will put its data center chip, code-named "Iris," into production in September as part of its MTIA (Meta Training and Inference Accelerators) program. The chip is designed by Meta in-house, with Broadcom helping with design and TSMC Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited handling fabrication.reuters+2

Meta currently plans to deploy seven gigawatts of computing infrastructure this year and aims to double that to 14 gigawatts in 2027, according to the memo. The company intends to release a new chip roughly every six months through 2027, a pace faster than the industry norm of annual releases. Iris is meant to complement, not replace, the GPUs Meta still purchases from Nvidia and AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. .money.usnews+4

Cloud Ambitions Shake Up the Market

Separately, Meta is building a cloud business to sell excess AI computing capacity to outside developers, Bloomberg first reported on July 1. The initiative, called Meta Compute, could include a managed AI model platform — similar to Amazon Amazon.com, Inc. Web Services' Bedrock offering — hosting models including Meta's own Muse Spark, as well as a raw computing power rental service.bloomberg+2

The news sent Meta shares up about 9% on July 1, according to The Wall Street Journal and CNBC. CoreWeave , which counts Meta as one of its largest customers with roughly $35 billion in contracted commitments, saw its stock fall sharply over subsequent sessions. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during a May shareholder call that selling compute is "definitely on the table," noting that companies approach Meta weekly seeking to buy capacity.thestreet+4

A Crowded Battlefield

The cloud entry pits Meta against Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Alphabet Inc. Cloud in a market valued in the trillions. Meta's 2026 capital expenditure is projected at $115 billion to $135 billion, underscoring both the scale of its bet and investor anxiety about whether returns will follow. For CoreWeave and other so-called neoclouds, Meta's potential entrance as a competitor — rather than just a customer — adds a layer of uncertainty to their growth narratives.seekingalpha+2

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