Well, Google's TPUs have gained immense market spotlight, but it appears that the firm might face a 'legal' trouble, which could force them to change the name of their AI chips.
Tachyum Claims That the 'TPU' Trademark Is Exclusive For Its Tech Stack, And Says to Challenge Google On It
Google's custom silicon has been the talk of the town when it comes to ASICs dominating a particular AI application, and out of all projects out there, TPUs have gained the most traction. But, this market spotlight has turned out to be troublesome for Google, as the AI/HPC solutions provider out of California, Tachyum, has decided to refer to the U.S. Trademark Office, to "defend its claim" on the TPU trademark, claiming that Google has filed for the name years after Tachyum's trademark protection. If matters turn in favour of Tachyum, Google might need to come up with a new name for its AI chips.
Tachyum is requesting Google to stop using TPU as a part of a descriptor for its Google TPU and will petition the U.S. Trademark Office to defend its legal claims to the term.
- Tachyum
When it comes to offering mainstream solutions to the industry, Tachyum hasn't achieved much, apart from showcasing concepts that indeed look very promising. One recent example is the 2nm Prodigy chips, which are claimed to feature up to 1024 64-bit cores on a single socket. Tachyum has compared its Prodigy 2nm chips against NVIDIA's Rubin Ultra GPU platform, stating that it will be the first platform to exceed 1000 PFLOPs in inference, surpassing NVIDIA's Rubin at 50 PFLOPs. For now, everything is on paper, but the firm's announcements do look optimistic.
Google hasn't responded to Tachyum's claim over the TPU trademark at this time, and based on experience, such filings can take some time to resolve. However, if the USPTO rules in favour of Tachyum, it could prove troublesome for Google. Given the market spotlight Google's TPUs are receiving, it would be interesting to see whether Tachyum would relinquish its claim to the TPU trademark, or perhaps we could see a deal between the two.
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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