Custom Inference Silicon Becomes Standard Strategy Across Global AI Labs

DeepSeek is developing its own AI chip for inference workloads, joining Google, Amazon, and OpenAI in pursuing vertical integration of models and silicon. The shift reflects economics of large-scale inference running already-trained models, where custom silicon reduces per-query costs. Inference chips tolerate lower precision and simpler memory designs than training accelerators, making them a more achievable first step into hardware. DeepSeek's move suggests inference optimization has become a core competitive lever for every serious AI lab, regardless of geography or supply constraints.