Well, Anthropic's latest deal with Google Cloud is probably something we should've seen coming, considering the firm's enmity with NVIDIA, and how Jensen sees Google's TPUs as a 'formidable' ASIC rival.
Anthropic's Latest Deal With Google Cloud Marks The Biggest External Adoption of TPUs
For those unaware, Anthropic has recently announced its intention to expand its computing power by entering into a deal with Google Cloud, which will focus on employing up to one million TPU chips, marking the largest deal secured by Google for its custom AI chips. Anthropic, in this deal alone, would have access to "over a gigawatt of capacity" as soon as next year, and this is one of the largest ventures in the industry that doesn't involve tech stacks from both NVIDIA and AMD, which is why it is a massive deal for compute providers and AI giants.
This represents the largest expansion of Anthropic's TPU usage to date. Anthropic will have access to up to one million TPU chips, as well as additional Google Cloud services, which will empower its research and development teams with leading AI-optimized infrastructure for years to come. Anthropic chose TPUs due to their price-performance and efficiency, and the company's existing experience in training and serving its models with TPUs.
This isn't exactly the first time Anthropic has collaborated with Google Cloud, as the firm has been utilizing the CSP's services since 2023. Therefore, expanding compute power on the same stack does seem a bit sensible. However, there's another interesting angle to this story. We have often seen Anthropic calling out NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, for a variety of issues, including AI chip smuggling into China. Similarly, Jensen has criticized Anthropic for the firm's 'closed-source' nature, as seen in models like Claude.
Here's another interesting twist. We know that ASICs pose a challenge to NVIDIA, and out of all the solutions available, Google's TPUs are seen as a more aggressive alternative to Team Green's hardware portfolio. And, when you consider that Anthropic has become the largest external TPU customer, this certainly indicates the growing rivalry with NVIDIA. But yet again, this is an opinion, and not exactly confirmed by either party; however, here's what Jensen had to say about Google's TPUs at the BG2 podcast:
To that point … one of the biggest key debates … is this question of GPUs versus ASICs, Google’s TPUs, Amazon’s Trainium. Google… They started TPU1 before everything started. … The challenge for people who are building ASICs.
Of course, NVIDIA remains the dominant compute provider, securing 'multi-GW' deals with the likes of OpenAI and Oracle. However, Anthropic doesn't seem too interested in what Jensen has to offer, whether it is due to the enmity between the two, or perhaps Google Cloud seems like a better option. Regardless of this debate, the winner in this situation is defintely the advancements we are seeing in the AI industry.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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