Alphabet’s Google is getting ready to collaborate with Taiwan’s MediaTek on the Tensor Processing Units, the next generation of its AI chips that would be produced the following year, according to project participants.
TakeAway Points:
- Alphabet’s Google is preparing to partner with Taiwan’s MediaTek on the next version of its AI chips, Tensor Processing Units, that will be made next year.
- According to a federal judge, California cannot enforce a state law designed to protect kids from potentially harmful online information.
Google and MediaTek to work on new AI chip
However, Google has not cut ties with Broadcom, the chip designer it has worked with exclusively on the AI chips over the past several years, the report said, citing an employee at
Like Nvidia,. Google also designs its own AI server chips, which it uses for internal research and development and also rents out to cloud customers.
This approach gives Google a competitive edge in the AI race by reducing its reliance on Nvidia, even as rivals like Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Meta Platforms have seen a surge in demand for Nvidia chips.
Late last year, Google rolled out its sixth-generation TPU in a bid to give itself and its Cloud customers an alternative to Nvidia’s chips, which are the most sought-after processors in the industry.
Google chose MediaTek partly because the Taiwanese firm has a strong relationship with TSMC and charges Google less per chip compared to Broadcom, the Information report added.
Google spent between $6 billion and $9 billion on TPUs last year, according to research firm Omdia, based on Broadcom’s target for AI semiconductor revenue last year.
Court blocks California law on children’s online safety
A federal judge said California cannot enforce a state law meant to shield children from online content that could harm them mentally or physically.
U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman ruled on Thursday that the trade group NetChoice deserved a preliminary injunction because it was likely to show the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act violated its members’ free speech rights under the Constitution’s First Amendment.
NetChoice said the law would turn its 39 members, including Amazon.com, Google, Facebook, Instagram parent Meta Platforms, Netflix and Elon Musk’s X, into state-deputized censors and “censor the internet under the guise of privacy.”
The office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta expressed disappointment on Friday, and said he “remains committed to tackling this issue and to defending California’s common-sense statutes.” It plans to respond to the decision in court.
Ambika Kumar, a lawyer for NetChoice, called the law “a breathtaking act of unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, content-based censorship. We are pleased to see it enjoined.”
Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2022, California’s law required businesses to create reports addressing whether their online platforms could harm children, and take steps before launch to reduce the risks.
It also required businesses to estimate ages of child users and configure privacy settings for them, or provide high settings for everyone. Civil fines could reach $2,500 per child for negligence and $7,500 per child for intentional violations.
In her 56-page decision, Freeman said the law imposed significant burdens and was not narrowly tailored to advance California’s alleged compelling interest in protecting children from bullying, harassment, sexual exploitation, sleep loss and other harms.
“A regulation that focuses on the emotive impact of speech on its audience iscontent-based and therefore must be drawn as narrowly as possible,” the San Jose, California, judge wrote. “The state has not shown that the (law) is narrowly drawn here.”
Freeman also enjoined the law in September 2023. A federal appeals court set aside part of her injunction last August and ordered a reassessment. The law was supposed to take effect last July.
