Anthropic recruits Google TPU veteran for in-house AI chip effort
The move comes as Anthropic seeks more control over the computing infrastructure needed to scale its Claude AI models.
Anthropic has brought in Amir Salek, who helped establish and run Google’s custom AI chip program, to its compute team as the Claude maker lays the groundwork for an in-house semiconductor business, Bloomberg reported Friday.
At Google, Salek led the tensor processing unit business until 2022 and was responsible for delivering the first seven generations of its AI accelerators. Following his departure from Google, Salek became senior managing director at Cerberus Capital Management. He previously worked at Nvidia.
His arrival gives Anthropic an executive with extensive experience designing and scaling custom chips as the company begins hiring for its own silicon operation.
The AI lab currently relies on a mix of hardware suppliers, including Nvidia, Google and Amazon, but is pursuing greater control over its computing infrastructure. Custom processors could help Anthropic navigate tight chip supplies while allowing it to build hardware optimized for its models and workloads.