Amazon designs its own end-to-end AI silicon for its consumer devices, hardware chief Panos Panay confirmed for the first time, pointing to custom chips running in the Echo Show 8, Echo Show 11, and Fire TV, according to CNBC. Those chips, including the AZ3 and AZ3 Pro that Amazon unveiled in October, process AI on the device instead of the cloud for speed and security, though Amazon still buys chips from suppliers like Qualcomm. Amazon’s silicon push supports Alexa+, the upgraded assistant it launched in the U.S. this year to pull users deeper into its device-and-shopping ecosystem, as it competes with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. Panay teased a roadmap of on-the-go gadgets people carry, talk to, and that gather data, building on last year’s acquisition of Bee, which makes $49.99 AI wristbands, and said one is coming soon.
