Reports: Amazon Developing AI Chips To Go Head-To-Head With Apple, Google

Amazon is once again throwing its hat into a new ring. The market heavyweight wants to start making its own artificial intelligence chips for its Echo speaker devices in an effort to better compete against Apple and Google, according to media reports. Amazon is starting to design custom AI hardware to power future Echo devices and improve the quality and response time of its "Alexa" voice-controlled personal assistant technology, according to a report first published by The Information. The move could help Amazon go head-to-head with rivals Apple and Google, which are already developing custom AI chips. Apple relies on custom-built chips from the likes of ARM for some of its smart devices but has also started developing its own chips for the iPhone.