Marvell shares surge on potential Google partnership

Marvell Technology shares climbed 6% in premarket trading on Monday after a report said Alphabet’s Google is in discussions with the chip designer to develop two new artificial intelligence chips aimed at improving the efficiency of AI model operations, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.

According to The Information, citing two people familiar with the talks, the potential agreement could involve two separate chips: a memory processing unit designed to complement Google’s tensor processing unit (TPU), and a new TPU built specifically for running AI models.

The report suggests that Google may be seeking to reduce its reliance on existing partner Broadcom, amid rapidly increasing demand for AI hardware and growing competition in the semiconductor sector.

Google currently uses TPUs for both training AI systems and inferencing, and has worked with Broadcom on chip design.

The development comes as major technology companies, including Meta, continue to invest heavily in custom chip development to reduce dependence on external suppliers and strengthen their position in the AI race.

AI-focused firm Anthropic also uses a mix of chips, including Google-designed TPUs, to power its AI models and chatbot Claude.

Last week, Meta extended its partnership with Broadcom to develop multiple generations of custom AI processors, following a reported $2.3 billion spend last year on AI chip design and related services.

Both Marvell and Broadcom operate in the semiconductor design space, helping clients develop specialised chips used in advanced data centres as demand for AI applications continues to surge.

Last month, Nvidia invested $2 billion in Marvell, aiming to better integrate its networking and processor technologies with Marvell’s custom chip designs.

Marvell, which forecasts revenue approaching $15 billion by fiscal 2028, could see its market value increase by more than $7 billion if premarket gains are sustained.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev