Google Reportedly Exploring AI Inference Chip Partnership With Marvell Technology

Google is reportedly exploring a partnership with semiconductor company Marvell Technology. As per the report, the Mountain View-based tech giant is in talks with the company to develop two new artificial Intelligence (AI) chipsets for its workload requirements. There is reportedly no deal in place, but the companies have initiated formal discussions around the topic. The deal is said not to impact Google's existing partnerships with Broadcom, MediaTek, and TSMC. Instead, it aims to diversify the company's supply chain.

Google Could Soon Partner With Marvell

According to The Information, the Gemini maker is in talks with Marvell to develop two new AI chips. Citing two unnamed people familiar with the plans, the publication claimed that the potential deal will be centred around Google's rising AI inference requirements, and the new processors will not cater to large language model (LLM) training-related tasks.

It is said that one of the planned chips is a memory processing unit, which will work alongside Google's tensor processing unit (TPU). In contrast, the second chip will be a new TPU that will be built specifically to run AI inference. For the unaware, “inference” in AI refers to the processing power or “compute” required to generate outputs based on user queries. It is separate from the compute that is used to train AI models before they are released.

The reported plans of forging a new partnership come just weeks after the tech giant introduced Ironwood, its seventh-generation TPU designed for inference. The system scales up to 9,216 liquid-cooled chips that are linked via a new Inter-Chip Interconnect (ICI) networking spanning nearly 10 megawatts. However, the Marvell deal is said not to be a replacement for Ironwood, and instead, it will supplement the system to help Google scale its AI offerings.

Earlier this month, the tech giant also signed a multi-year deal with Broadcom, which remains its major partner when it comes to chip development. Additionally, Google has also forged partnerships with MediaTek and TSMC, making its supply chain infrastructure diverse. The planned partnership appears to be a key step in that direction, allowing the hyperscaler to cater to the demand.