Will Samsung Make New Google “Icefish” TPU?

InnovationAIWill Samsung Make New Google “Icefish” TPU?ByJohn Werner,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I am an MIT Senior Fellow & Lecturer, 5x-founder & VC investing in AIFollow AuthorJun 14, 2026, 10:44am EDTSamsung logo displayed on a glass door at the company's Seocho building in Seoul AFP via Getty ImagesSome of the newest reports on hardware in tech media today have to do with efforts to diversify away from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, abbreviated TSMC, which has held fab foundry customers in its palm for decades.The context: World chip makers are trying to rival the Taiwanese firm, but they’re moving slowly: recent American investments in companies like Intel have not fully diversified this part of the market, especially for AI-specific chips, and as for Europe, Africa, or other Asian countries, none of these quarters have produced a robust TSMC competitor. Taiwan, it seems, just has too much of an edge.To be fair, it’s not that other countries and other firms don’t have foundry production. It’s more that the customers, the designers of chips which have been put onto another track than the manufacturers, want the best, and TSMA is the best, leading to estimates that TSMC still fabricates 90% of the market for high-end AI chips, for customers like Nvidia.“TSMC pulled away from Samsung and Intel at 7nm, then 5nm, then 3nm, and the company became the only place on earth that could reliably manufacture leading-edge silicon at scale,” wrote Alex Sirois about a week ago at 24/7 Wall Street, providing somewhat of a summary, showing how the stock 10xed for buy and holders. “The AI boom poured gasoline on that lead. Today TSMC controls roughly 72% of the global foundry market and prints chips for NVIDIA, AMD, Apple, and Broadcom on advanced nodes that are running near capacity.”But now, news from Google might signify that change will happen in the future.MORE FOR YOUGoogle IcefishThis week, The Inform...