Broadcom's Samsung Deal Puts Custom AI Chips on Nvidia's Turf

Broadcom reportedly matches Nvidia's memory pricing with Samsung as Anthropic and OpenAI custom-chip plans scale toward gigawatts.

Broadcom is pressing its challenge to Nvidia's dominance in artificial-intelligence processors on two fronts at once: pricing power over memory suppliers and a financing machine that keeps its largest customers buying.

The chipmaker has reportedly struck an agreement with South Korean memory producer Samsung on supply prices for AI memory chips that match the terms Nvidia commands, according to media reports. The arrangement signals that Broadcom now carries enough weight in the AI supply chain to negotiate at the same table as the market leader.

That leverage matters because the industry's biggest buyers are rethinking what kind of silicon they want. General-purpose graphics cards from Nvidia have driven data-center buildouts so far, but hyperscalers are increasingly hunting for architectures that deliver more compute per watt. The shift is pushing demand toward application-specific integrated circuits, or ASICs, designed to order.

Anthropic's Gigawatt Roadmap

Anthropic is moving aggressively down that path. The AI developer plans to scale its Broadcom TPU-based compute capacity to 5 gigawatts by 2027, then double it to 10 gigawatts by 2028.

Broadcom is also working with OpenAI on custom AI accelerators totaling 10 gigawatts of capacity, with OpenAI contributing the chip and system designs. Together, the two programs sketch out a custom-silicon pipeline measured in gigawatts rather than units.

JPMorgan's analysts see the broader market tilting the same way, forecasting annual growth above 40% in the coming years. By their reckoning, specialized chips could overtake conventional GPUs on unit volumes by mid-decade. The bank projects 23.3 million AI accelerators shipping worldwide in 2027, split between 12.5 million application-specific chips and XPUs and 10.9 million GPUs.

Wall Street Builds a $60 Billion Package

Financing that buildout is becoming as complicated as designing the chips. Reuters reported Thursday, citing Anthropic's IPO prospectus, that Broadcom intends to lend the company as much as $42 billion to fund infrastructure spending tied to chip-leasing arrangements. The dual role of supplier and lender has drawn scrutiny over circular financing structures in the AI sector.

Separately, Bloomberg reported Friday that a Wall Street consortium is assembling a $60 billion financing package for AI chips and infrastructure, benefiting Anthropic and other customers. The structure includes a $42 billion senior secured tranche and an $18 billion subordinated tranche led by Blackstone. The figures describe a financing effort still in progress, not a completed agreement.

Supply Chains Feel the Strain

Rapid growth is colliding with industrial limits. Component shortages — printed circuit boards for optical transceivers and lasers among them — are weighing on manufacturing chains even as demand accelerates.

Shares Rise, Analyst Stays Bullish

Broadcom stock closed Friday at EUR 315.65, up 3.2%, helped by a softer-than-expected U.S. jobs report that pushed Treasury yields lower and eased worries about future rate moves. The Nasdaq climbed 1.2% on the day, lifting semiconductor and technology names across the board, according to AP.

UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri reaffirmed his "Buy" rating and kept his price target at $470. Broadcom's market value now stands at EUR 1,455.50 billion. Even after Friday's advance, the shares remain roughly 27% below their 52-week high of EUR 429.60, set in early June.

How the combination of surging chip demand and the financing volumes being marshaled shows up in Broadcom's operating results is the question market watchers now face.