Google’s order for 3 million TPU chips—why did it become the fuse that ignited the market rally?

On June 8, chip stocks rebounded across the board. The most direct catalyst was a single piece of news: Google placed a foundry order with Intel for more than 3 million of its self-developed TPU chips, which is expected to be completed by 2028.

Why can an order scheduled for delivery in 2028 trigger such a fierce market reaction? Because it touches the core narrative logic behind today’s AI hardware investment—supply chain diversification.

TSMC’s capacity is no longer sufficient to meet market demand. TSMC Chairman Wei Zhejia recently acknowledged, “Customer demand is so high, and our capabilities are limited. We’ve worked extremely hard.” Against this backdrop, AI chip giants such as Google and NVIDIA have begun to view Intel as a “second source” for high-end chips.

For Intel, the significance of this order goes far beyond revenue alone. Intel’s foundry business segment is still operating at a loss; in the first quarter, its operating loss was approximately $2.4 billion. However, landing a client at the level of Google means Intel has regained a seat at the table in the supply chain for high-end AI chips—a crucial step in validating its foundry technology and advanced packaging capabilities.

For Google, diversifying foundry sources is an important safeguard for supply chain security. TPU chips are already in high demand in Silicon Valley. There are reports that OpenAI is using Google’s TPU chips to replace NVIDIA chips for training.

For the entire AI chip industry chain, this order reveals a broader trend. eMarketer analyst noted, “This proves that the biggest players in the field of artificial intelligence are racing to achieve supply chain diversification, while the supply chain is currently still heavily concentrated in TSMC.” The narrative of supply chain diversification is only just beginning, and it will be a positive driver for the entire semiconductor industry chain.

#美股AI概念股普涨