Google is reportedly following Apple’s lead, working on its own chip to power future Chromebooks.
Apple rocked the computer industry when it announced it would transition away from Intel to its own M1 architecture. The M1 is based on the same Arm designs the company has used for years in the iPad and iPhone.
Because of Apple’s Arm license, it has the freedom to heavily modify Arm’s designs to gain a competitive advantage. In its Mac line of computers, the M1 has been a smashing success, posting impressive benchmarks, while offering efficiency and battery life that Intel can’t match.
Google is now looking to replicate Apple’s success by creating its own line of chips for its Chromebook laptops, according to Nikkei Asia, with the chips expected to be available in 2023.
“Very few players have the skills or financial resources to design their own chips, so the typical players considering this path tend to be extremely large players, like the cloud service providers, or have very valuable applications for these specially designed chips,” Peter Hanbury, a partner at consulting firm Bain & Co., told Nikkei Asia.
Google already has some experience in this field, with its Tensor chips. The company originally designed them for use in cloud servers, but recently announced the chips would also power the upcoming Pixel 6 line of smartphones.