Anthropic Eyes Samsung for Custom AI Chip as Iran Bids Farewell to Khamenei
The race to own the AI silicon stack is accelerating. Anthropic, the company behind the Claude assistant, is in early talks with Samsung Electronics to manufacture a custom AI processor using Samsung’s 2-nanometer process and advanced packaging facilities, according to a report c
The race to own the AI silicon stack is accelerating. Anthropic, the company behind the Claude assistant, is in early talks with Samsung Electronics to manufacture a custom AI processor using Samsung’s 2-nanometer process and advanced packaging facilities, according to a report cited by UPI [1]. The project is still at a preliminary stage—no detailed design, testing, or manufacturing has begun—but the discussions signal Anthropic’s ambition to follow rivals into custom hardware.
Anthropic’s move comes just days after OpenAI and Broadcom unveiled Jalapeño, OpenAI’s first custom inference chip, on June 24 [2]. OpenAI said the processor moved from initial design to production tape-out in nine months and is already running workloads including GPT‑5.3‑Codex‑Spark in the lab [2]. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan described Jalapeño as the start of a multi-generation roadmap aimed at gigawatt-scale data centers [2]. Anthropic, meanwhile, recently hired Clive Chan, an early OpenAI custom-chip engineer, suggesting it is building an internal silicon team [1].
The backdrop is a massive semiconductor buildout in South Korea. Samsung and SK hynix have committed roughly 800 trillion won (about $523 billion) over the next decade to new fabs, high-bandwidth memory, and advanced packaging, part of a national push to ease the global memory shortage dubbed “RAMageddon” [1][3]. Samsung is the only one of Anthropic’s strategic memory partners—alongside SK hynix and Micron—that also runs a large contract foundry business, making a manufacturing deal a natural extension of the relationship [1].
On the world stage, Iran held funeral ceremonies on July 4 for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, with millions expected in Tehran and the entire province closed through Tuesday to accommodate mourners [4]. Analysts note the event is both a religious rite and a show of national strength amid the ongoing conflict with Israel. Khamenei’s son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, was not expected to attend, reportedly due to security fears of a second decapitation strike [4].
Together, the stories capture a weekend where geopolitical transition and the hardware arms race behind artificial intelligence are moving in parallel.