Meta begins production of 'Iris' AI chip to power 14 GW of data‑center compute

Meta Platforms plans to start manufacturing its in‑house artificial‑intelligence chip, code‑named “Iris,” in September as part of the fourth generation of its Meta Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA) program. The chip is designed to boost Meta’s data‑center computing capacity to 14 gigawatts by 2027, roughly the power of 14 large nuclear plants, and will be produced with Broadcom’s design support and TSMC’s advanced‑node fabrication.

The internal memo reviewed by Reuters says testing of the chip took six weeks and found no major issues, signalling rapid development compared with the typical 12‑18‑month cadence of competitors such as NVIDIA and AMD. Meta will pair the new silicon with long‑term supply agreements for Samsung memory, SanDisk flash storage and Sumitomo fiber‑optic equipment, aiming to lower costs and reduce reliance on external GPU suppliers. The company forecasts spending up to $145 billion on AI infrastructure this year, part of a broader push that has already raised concerns over “chip‑inflation” in the tech sector.