Samsung is weighing whether to outsource I/O chip back-end design for Google’s 10th-generation TPU, Icefish, as rising 2nm demand from Google, Tesla, Anthropic and DeepX stretches internal engineering capacity.
Samsung Electronics is considering outsourcing back-end design work for the I/O chip in Google’s 10th-generation Tensor Processing Unit, codenamed Icefish, as internal staffing is stretched by 2nm orders from Google, Tesla, Anthropic and DeepX. The Google TPU is being designed with MediaTek, and mass production could begin as early as 2028. Potential outsourcing partners mentioned for the work are ADTechnology, Gaonchips and Alphachips. Back-end design converts a chip’s logical architecture into a manufacturable physical layout, a technically demanding step that becomes more complex at advanced process nodes such as 2nm. The development adds detail to Samsung’s possible role in Google’s next-generation AI chip program while underscoring the wider industry trend of hyperscalers building custom silicon to improve performance and energy efficiency rather than relying only on merchant chip suppliers such as Nvidia and AMD.