Anthropic and OpenAI Plan to Purchase Memory Directly from Storage Manufacturers Starting 2027
nashnova research
Anthropic and OpenAI plan to bypass GPU vendors and buy memory chips directly from manufacturers like Samsung starting in 2027, according to Digitimes — a move that signals AI giants are reaching deeper into the upstream supply chain and could reshape the memory industry's customer map.
What exactly are they trying to change?
Today, AI companies get their memory bundled inside systems assembled by GPU vendors like Nvidia or by system integrators — they receive a finished package, not individual components.
This means → AI companies have no direct say over which memory brands, specs, or volumes go into their machines. The middleman decides.
Anthropic and OpenAI want to skip the middleman and contract directly with memory makers — moving from "accept what's configured" to "spec it ourselves, pick the supplier ourselves."
Why do they want to buy direct?
The driver: both companies are designing their own chip-selection strategies and data-center architectures, and that requires tighter control over hardware choices.
In plain terms = once you start drawing your own data-center blueprints, you stop wanting someone else to choose your memory for you.
This reflects a broader shift in what AI model developers are becoming — no longer pure software firms, but players reaching deep into the hardware supply chain.
What does this mean for memory makers?
The report names Samsung specifically: direct orders from AI giants would shift Samsung's customer mix from "relying on GPU-vendor and system-integrator pass-through orders" to selling straight to the end AI customer.
This means → the negotiation landscape changes. Samsung used to talk mainly to Nvidia; now it may negotiate separately with OpenAI and Anthropic — a broader customer base, but counterparts who understand the technical details just as well.
However, deal sizes, contract structures, and which memory categories are involved remain undisclosed. The real impact depends on those details.
Is 2027 a realistic timeline?
The report sets 2027 as the target — making it the first verifiable checkpoint for the narrative that AI giants are extending into upstream supply chains.
In plain terms = there has been plenty of talk about "AI companies taking control of hardware." 2027 is the first moment we can check whether it actually happened.
Worth noting: the report comes from Digitimes' paywalled content, and key details are not yet public — execution uncertainty remains real.
市场有风险，内容仅供研究参考，不构成投资建议。