In a prominent move toward technological independence and supply chain security, major development labs are seeking to manufacture their custom chips to lower costs and meet the massive demand for smart processing power.

• Introduction to the disclosure of in-house chip development efforts
• A confirmed transition from planning to active execution
• A growing and clear trend among tech giants to build proprietary silicon
• Strategic partnerships and multi-billion-dollar investment plans to support data infrastructure
• Worsening chip shortages and future warnings of surging demand
• FAQs

Introduction to the disclosure of in-house chip development efforts

In a public and important disclosure highlighting growing technical ambitions, deep strategic shifts, and the trends of major companies in the high-tech sector, Mr. Chey Tae-won, chairman of major South Korean business conglomerate SK Group, revealed new and exciting details confirming that American company Anthropic—one of the world’s most prominent and important developers of generative artificial intelligence software models—has submitted an official and direct request for vital supplies from SK Hynix to produce and manufacture custom semiconductors dedicated entirely to its artificial intelligence workloads. This interesting and transparent revelation came during a specialized and important tech event focusing on artificial intelligence affairs held in San Francisco last Friday. This announcement serves as a definitive and unequivocal confirmation that the leading generative AI research and models company has officially and strongly moved from mere theoretical planning and initial engineering research to the active and practical execution of its ambitious internal program, which primarily and centrally aims to develop custom and independent silicon chips in a strategic attempt to avoid and reduce ongoing, costly reliance on limited external providers who control prices and supply chains in a sensitive, volatile global market lacking supply.

A confirmed transition from planning to active execution

The prominent businessman Chey made these important, candid, and striking remarks while participating actively and sharing the stage at the technical event alongside Mr. Dario Amodei, CEO and founder of Anthropic, and other prominent chief executives and influential engineers in the global technology sector. This high-level and important meeting coincided precisely with the official and historic visit by South Korean President Mr. Lee Jae-myung to Silicon Valley—the global and most important hub for technological innovation—during the period from July 24 to 25. During his opening speech at the event, Chey expressed deep admiration, describing the efforts of a company originally specialized in developing AI language software and models to possess its own independent hardware and complex chip manufacturing ambitions as “extremely cool and remarkable.” This disclosure came in close coordination with announcements by both South Korean tech giants, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, regarding the conclusion and signing of massive and highly demanded strategic memory chip supply agreements with several prominent American technology companies during the presidential visit—major commercial deals described by a high-ranking South Korean government official close to government circles as involving “very large and historic” monetary sums to secure the vital supply chains of both countries.

A growing and clear trend among tech giants to build proprietary silicon

With this bold and technologically advanced step, Anthropic officially and definitively joins an exclusive and small club of global tech giants including Google, Amazon, and Meta, all of which are actively pursuing an intense investment race to develop, build, and manufacture silicon chips designed and customized entirely in-house to meet their massive and growing needs for computing power. All of these large, trillion-dollar companies are looking with caution and concern at reducing and minimizing their scary and dangerous reliance on external suppliers—most notably the powerful NVIDIA—amid an acute and ongoing global shortage in operational computing capacities and weak available and fast production of AI chips. The first reliable media reports and leaks detailing the existence of an internal and secret chip-making program within Anthropic first surfaced in April 2026, when technical expectations and analyses indicated that this ambitious and costly engineering program includes both the development and design of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), alongside the development and design of powerful graphics processing units to accelerate and support massive neural network training operations in a more efficient, economical, and fully independent manner.

Strategic partnerships and multi-billion-dollar investment plans to support data infrastructure

It is worth noting in this context that the prestigious and prominent American company Anthropic had previously revealed, with pride and optimism, a massive and stunning investment plan totaling approximately $50 billion aimed primarily and crucially at building, equipping, and establishing giant, advanced data centers capable of efficiently and quickly running its large future models. According to specialized analysts and close observers of the tech market, this direct, documented, and public request for operational and technical supplies from South Korea’s SK Hynix plants clearly indicates beyond a doubt that the company’s internal and proprietary chip development program has successfully and remarkably surpassed the usual theoretical and initial design phase, entering strongly and confidently into actual and practical preparation to begin physical mass production. In a move reflecting the growing depth of strategic, financial, and economic interdependence, South Korea’s Samsung and SK Hynix had earlier this fiscal year made a smart and fruitful decision to acquire strategic stakes and influential financial ownership in Anthropic as an integral part of a massive and exceptional $65 billion financing round, which in turn directly contributed to raising the company’s total valuation and market cap past the $965 billion mark, bringing it rapidly and closely near the trillion-dollar club of major corporations.

Worsening chip shortages and future warnings of surging demand

During his appearance at the prominent tech event in San Francisco, Chey, chairman of the strategically weighted SK Group, issued a blunt and strong warning to the public and investors that the ongoing and alarming global shortage in advanced semiconductors—driven and fueled primarily by the accelerating pace of innovation and significant, steady growth in the generative AI application revolution—will experience noticeable worsening, severity, and difficulty in the very near future. He provided concerning economic and business forecasts indicating a potential massive surge in total global demand for these microchips by 60 to 100 percent over the next year alone, which will place immense pressure on factories. Facing these immense production challenges, the South Korean SK Group has strongly committed to allocating and investing a stellar and massive sum estimated at approximately 1,100 trillion South Korean won to support and expand global semiconductor supply chains and bridge the deficit. Its subsidiary SK Hynix will play a pioneering and decisive role in leading this major South Korean national effort by actually investing in expanding advanced production facilities and building advanced foundry plants. Demonstrating this chipmaker’s global strength and investment appeal, its strong and successful recent listing on the American Nasdaq exchange through American Depositary Receipts in an initial share sale was considered the largest ever for a foreign company in the US market. This noticeable convergence between software developers, memory makers, and computing equipment underlines the massive demand that current infrastructure remains unable to fully absorb and meet with complete efficiency and stability at present.

FAQs

Question: What is the direct and technical request made by Anthropic to South Korea’s SK Group?

Answer: The company requested supplies of special, specific materials to assist it in manufacturing and producing semiconductor chips designed and customized entirely in-house for its artificial intelligence workloads.

Question: Why are major tech companies like Anthropic and Google turning to manufacture their own chips and infrastructure?

Answer: These companies seek to reduce risky and costly reliance on external suppliers like NVIDIA, secure their supplies to meet high demand amid a global chip shortage, and lower operating costs.

Question: What is the scale of the massive financial investments announced by SK Group to meet growing market demand?

Answer: The South Korean group committed to investing a stellar and massive sum estimated at approximately 1,100 trillion South Korean won to expand manufacturing facilities and support the semiconductor supply chain in global markets.

Question: What was the nature of the previous partnership between Korean companies and Anthropic before this exciting announcement?

Answer: Samsung and SK Hynix strongly and effectively participated in a massive funding round for the company and acquired strategic stakes that helped push Anthropic’s financial valuation close to the trillion-dollar mark.