Anthropic has started early-stage work to develop its own AI chip and is discussing a manufacturing partnership with Samsung Electronics, The Information reported on Wednesday, citing three people familiar with the matter. Two sources said Anthropic is considering Samsung’s 2-nanometre manufacturing process and advanced packaging facilities. The company is still defining the chip’s role, performance targets and deployment. It has begun hiring and recently recruited Clive Chan, an early member of OpenAI’s in-house chip team.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix on Wednesday announced large investment plans for South Korea’s Chungcheong region, totalling 240 trillion won. Samsung said it will invest about 140 trillion won in areas including advanced displays, high-bandwidth memory fabs, next-generation batteries and AI server package substrates, aiming to create 250,000 jobs. SK Hynix said it will invest 100 trillion won in Cheongju, citing a need to expand NAND supply and strengthen advanced packaging.