As part of its collaboration with Taiwanese company KYEC, Google is testing a “self-developed” Tensor chip. Testing services are provided by KYEC for new chips headed to Taiwan for manufacturing. It is reported that Google is buying equipment at KYEC to test these chips. Testing will begin around the middle of this year and increase over time (via 9to5Google).
According to this report, Google may be moving away from Samsung’s processors for its Pixel phones.
The chip in question is likely the Tensor G5, codenamed “Laguna.” It is expected to be released in 2025. This chip is likely to be manufactured on TSMC’s 3nm process and prioritize artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, aligning with Google’s focus on AI-powered features.
Until now, Google has relied heavily on Samsung’s Exynos chips as the foundation for its chipset designs. There are several advantages to shifting production to TSMC. In the future, Google may be able to design more powerful and efficient Pixel phones by bypassing Samsung’s Exynos chip base, which currently lags behind Qualcomm’s Snapdragon series.
The partnership between Google and Samsung will, however, continue for the foreseeable future. It is expected that the Tensor G4 destined for the upcoming Pixel 9 series will be built using Samsung’s 4nm process and will offer minor improvements over the G3 found in the Pixel 8.
Tensor G4 is said to use a similar technology to Samsung’s Exynos 2400 SoC. As a result, CPU and GPU gains will be decent.
