Google unveils 2 specialized AI chip systems in growing Nvidia challenge: Report

Google introduced two new configurations of its in-house artificial intelligence processors Monday, expanding its challenge to Nvidia’s dominance of the AI chip market, Bloomberg reported.

The systems, named TPU 8tx and TPU 8i Max, are specialized versions of Google’s existing eighth-generation tensor processing units rather than entirely new chips.

Bloomberg first reported the rollout before Google published details of the systems in an official announcement.

Google initially developed TPUs for its own products, including Search, YouTube, and its Gemini AI models. The company has since made them available through Google Cloud and begun supplying TPU systems directly to some customers’ data centers.

The TPU 8tx is designed for government agencies and companies in regulated industries that need to protect sensitive information while it is being processed.

Built using the same silicon as Google’s TPU 8t and paired with customized AMD processors, it uses hardware-level protections to isolate data and AI model parameters during active use. Google said the system delivers up to twice the speed of the TPU 8t for some operations with almost no performance penalty from its security measures.

The TPU 8i Max is designed for AI systems that must process large context windows, such as entire software codebases or hours of video.

Google combined two TPU 8i processors in a single package, doubling computing power, on-chip memory, and high-bandwidth memory capacity. The configuration is intended for demanding applications including coding assistants, mathematical reasoning, scientific research, and drug discovery.

The two systems expand Google’s eighth-generation portfolio to four products. The TPU 8t targets large-scale AI training, while the standard TPU 8i focuses on real-time reasoning and inference.

Alphabet shares rose more than 3% in early US trading following the announcement.

The expansion comes as Google’s chip business becomes an increasingly important part of its cloud operations. Google Cloud revenue rose 103% from a year earlier to $30.7 billion in the third quarter, with Alphabet describing TPU system sales as a meaningful contributor.

The company expects TPU sales to continue growing during the fourth quarter before a larger revenue increase in 2027.