During this extended chip shortage, both Apple and Google seem to have learned that making its own in-house processors provides a much better way to control the supply chain and to quickly customise.
The upcoming Pixel 6 series (which won’t be coming to Australia) will use its own custom-built System on a Chip (SoC) called Tensor, and now Nikkei Asia are reporting that this is the first of a number of in-house chips to come from Google.
Google reportedly is making its own CPUs to power all Chromebooks and Chrome OS tablets. It’s an expensive and time-consuming process to set up a chip manufacturing line, so pundits expect Google to roll this new CPU out in 2023.
Google’s processors will be built off the ‘Arm’ architecture, similar to Qualcomm.
Google has also increased production capacity for the Pixel 6 series by 50 per cent. The company shipped 7 million Pixel phones in 2019, which dropped to 3.7 million last year. With a new Pixel phone, the company is confident these numbers will pick up.
