Meta ramps up AI push with expanded Broadcom agreement

Meta Platforms (META) will work with chip designer Broadcom (AVGO) to produce several generations of custom artificial intelligence processors under an expanded agreement, as the social media company accelerates efforts to expand computing capacity for AI features across its platforms.

The announcement on Tuesday extends the partnership until 2029 and includes an initial commitment of more than one gigawatt of computing capacity—enough to power roughly 750,000 U.S. homes on average, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.

Under the agreement, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan will step down from Meta’s board and take on an advisory role focused on the company’s custom chip strategy, according to a joint statement by the companies.

As artificial intelligence drives a surge in computing demand, major technology firms such as Meta, Google, and Amazon are increasingly designing their own chips to reduce dependence on Nvidia’s expensive processors.

This shift toward custom chips has positioned Broadcom as one of the major beneficiaries of the generative AI boom. The company collaborates with clients to develop tailored processors and also provides infrastructure software.

Broadcom’s shares rose 3.5 percent in extended trading, while Meta’s stock remained largely unchanged.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the partnership will help “build out the massive computing foundation we need to deliver personal superintelligence to billions of people.”

The company, which recently unveiled a roadmap of four new chips, described the initial capacity agreement with Broadcom as “the first phase of a sustained, multi-gigawatt rollout.”

Broadcom’s Ethernet networking technology will also be used to connect Meta’s expanding clusters of AI computing systems.

Meta’s first chip under its Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA) program, the MTIA 300, already supports its ranking and recommendation systems. Three additional chips are expected by 2027, with later versions focused on inference tasks—where AI models generate responses to user queries.

Separately, Meta announced that Tracey Travis, a board member since 2020, will not seek re-election at the company’s upcoming annual shareholder meeting.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev