Google’s journey into making its own chipsets started a few years ago when it announced the Pixel 2 smartphone. The 2017 flagship had a custom-made image processor called the Pixel Visual Core, an 8-core image processing unit. The chip was then replaced with the Pixel Neural Core in the Pixel 4 series. For the upcoming Pixel 6 series, Google will ship the two phones with its own custom-built System on a Chip (SoC) called Tensor. A new report has revealed this is the first of more chips to come.
It has been reported that Google plans to announce its own CPUs which will power Chromebooks and Chrome OS-powered tablets. The news comes from Nikkei Asia and they cite three sources with knowledge of the matter. These CPUs are expected to begin rolling out in 2023 though Google has declined to comment on the matter.
Google’s processors will be based on the Arm architecture just like that of other chip companies such as MediaTek and Qualcomm. The advantage of using its own chip includes being able to more easily customize features for the devices they power.
A chief analyst at Isaiah Research, Eric Tsang, who spoke to Nikkei Asia, said that while the use of one’s own chip will result in better software and hardware integration, the business of making your own chip requires a lot of investment and long-term commitments. Peter Hanbury, a partner at Bain & Co., a consulting firm, also shares similar sentiments. He cited the cost associated with developing a chipset which is about $500 million for a 5nm processor and $50 million for a 28nm processor. Mr. Tsang also stated that new players will have to compete with older and more established players for production capacities. Delays in production can result in products arriving later than planned.
The publication also reports that Google has asked its suppliers to prepare 50% more production capacity for the Pixel 6 series compared to that of 2019. It is said that it shipped a total of 7 million Pixel phones in 2019 but that figure fell to 3.7 million last year. Sales have picked up this year, so Google is optimistic sales of the Pixel 6 series should be better.
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