So, you know how everyone's worried about whether there will be enough AI chips to go around? Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) just decided to stop worrying and buy the whole factory. Well, not buy it, but lock it down.
The semiconductor giant announced it has secured the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and advanced-node manufacturing capacity it needs at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) to support its AI chip production all the way through 2028. That's a four-year supply chain handcuff, effectively easing a big industry headache about limited HBM supply and constrained TSMC production lines.
Think of it as Broadcom calling dibs on the best table at the restaurant for the next four years, while everyone else is still trying to get a reservation. The company said it locked in the required volumes in advance as demand for AI infrastructure from big tech companies just keeps accelerating. This move, reported by Chosunbiz, is a classic power play in a tight market.
Broadcom has been expanding rapidly in the market for application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). These are custom chips built for a specific task, unlike the general-purpose graphics processing units (GPUs) that Nvidia Corp (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc (AMD) are famous for. And who's ordering these custom chips? Oh, just a few small companies you might have heard of: Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL) Google, Meta Platforms Inc. (META), Microsoft Corp (MSFT), and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN).
These tech giants are working with Broadcom to build silicon tailored to their own AI models instead of relying solely on off-the-shelf GPUs. It's the semiconductor equivalent of getting a bespoke suit instead of buying one off the rack.
The AI Money Is Flowing In
All this custom work is translating into serious revenue. CEO Hock Tan said Broadcom expects AI revenue from its chip business to exceed $100 billion next year. Let that number sink in for a second.
The company's latest results showed this momentum isn't just theoretical. Fiscal first-quarter revenue hit $19.31 billion, up 29% year over year. The star of the show was AI revenue, which rocketed 106% to $8.4 billion. When a segment more than doubles in a year, people tend to notice.












