GOOGL Stock Dips Premarket After Breakout Week: Analyst Says Google Developing Next-Gen AI Chip With MediaTek

Google’s “Triggerfish” will feature a substantial memory upgrade, support next-generation HBM4E memory, and allow more active workloads to remain on-chip, according to Ming-Chi Kuo.

• GOOGL stock was falling in premarket trading on Monday.
• The reported move not only cements MediaTek’s position as one of Google’s preferred partners for the TPU v9 but also underscores the Taiwanese company’s increasing business ties with U.S. Big Tech firms.
• Broadcom and Marvell remain dominant in the custom AI silicon market.

Alphabet, Inc. is reportedly developing an upgraded version of its TPU v9 AI chip, codenamed Triggerfish, and has once again selected Taiwan’s MediaTek as its exclusive development partner, according to noted supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

The new chip is expected to build on Google’s existing TPU v9 platform, known internally as Humufish, but with significantly stronger inference capabilities to support next-gen AI workloads such as AI agents and reinforcement learning (RL), Kuo said in an X post.

GOOGL stock was down 1% in early premarket trading on Monday, following a breakout week that saw gains of 2.3%, snapping a five-week slide.

The reported move not only cements MediaTek’s position as one of Google’s preferred partners for the TPU v9, it underscores the Taiwanese company’s increasing business ties with U.S. Big Tech firms.

Over the past year, MediaTek has moved beyond its traditional smartphone roots and emerged as a strategic silicon partner for several major U.S. technology companies building custom AI hardware. 

The company deepened its partnership with Nvidia recently, for the latter’s GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip and Nvidia’s broader AI computing initiatives. Meanwhile, MediaTek and Microsoft have expanded cooperation around edge AI, with the companies showcasing cloud-to-device AI workflows using Microsoft’s Phi models on MediaTek silicon. 

While Broadcom and Marvell remain dominant in custom AI silicon market, MediaTek’s growing role with Google, Nvidia and Microsoft indicates it is becoming a credible challenger in the custom AI chips market.

Google’s ‘Triggerfish’ Chip

According to Kuo, Triggerfish will feature a substantial memory upgrade, including SRAM capacity that is two to three times larger than Humufish and support for next-generation HBM4E memory, compared with HBM4 in the current design. 

The analyst said the larger SRAM capacity would allow more active workloads to remain on-chip, reducing data movement and improving efficiency during inference. 

Such improvements could help Google address growing bottlenecks in AI computing, often referred to as the “CPU wall” and “memory wall.”

Kuo estimates lifetime shipments of Humufish at roughly 4 million to 5 million units. Triggerfish is expected to add another 1-2 million units, with production slated to begin in late 2027 and volume ramping in 2028. 

Google TPU Strategy, Retail View On Stock

Google has increasingly relied on custom TPUs as a key part of its AI strategy, using them internally for products such as Gemini while also offering them through Google Cloud. The company has emerged as one of the few hyperscalers pursuing a large-scale in-house AI-chip roadmap rather than relying solely on Nvidia accelerators.

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for GOOGL dipped to ‘bearish’ from ‘neutral’ the previous day, with traders debating the underperformance of GOOGL and other Big Tech stocks this year versus their strong underlying business performance.

“$GOOGL $AMZN $MSFT $META the 4 capex clowns. Literally pumping junk server companies to ATH with their capex, and giving their own shareholders nothing but dilution and uncertainty,” said a trader. 

GOOGL stock is up 17% year-to-date, the best performance among the Magnificent Seven group of equities. MSFT, TSLA and META are in the red for the year. In comparison, the chip sector has surged, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) gaining 111% year to date. 

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