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Amazon's Trainium 3 rumors clash with supplier optimism
Rumors circulating in the semiconductor market suggest that Amazon may scale back shipments of its upcoming Trainium 3 artificial-intelligence chip after internal tests reportedly showed performance falling short of expectations. Yet suppliers involved in the chip's components say they have received no such notice and continue to prepare for a rapid ramp-up in production beginning in the second quarter of 2026.
A rising tide for AI ASICs
Custom AI chips designed for specific workloads — known as application-specific integrated circuits, or ASICs — are expected to be one of the main drivers of growth in the AI server market this year. Trainium 3, developed by Amazon's cloud unit Amazon Web Services, is widely viewed as a key product in that push, especially after Google introduced its seventh-generation Tensor Processing Unit late in 2025.
Recent industry chatter has suggested that Trainium 3 may generate AI tokens at a higher cost than competing chips. According to these reports, Amazon could trim shipments of Trainium 3 while boosting demand for an interim chip known as Trainium 2.5, and accelerate development of the next-generation Trainium 4. Trainium 4 had originally been expected to begin limited production in late 2027, with larger-scale output in 2028.
Supply chain intact, ramp on track
Companies involved in Amazon's ASIC server supply chain include Taiwan-based system assembler Wiwynn, networking equipment provider Accton Technology, cooling specialists Asia Vital and Cooler Master, thermal module maker Microloops, server rail manufacturer King Slide Works, power supplier Delta Electronics, and connector maker BizLink Holding.
Executives within the supply chain say they have not been informed of any plan to cut Trainium 3 shipments or raise orders for Trainium 2.5. Instead, preparations are underway for a strong production ramp beginning in the second quarter of 2026, with the chip expected to become a key growth driver in the second half of the year. Wiwynn recently told investors that shipments of AI servers would rise significantly in the latter half of 2026, with ASIC-based systems leading the increase.
Cooling manufacturers are also counting on the shift. Auras Technology said servers using ASIC accelerators accounted for roughly 20% to 30% of its revenue in 2025, but shipments are expected to accelerate sharply starting in the second half of 2026. By 2027, Auras said, ASIC servers could generate more revenue than those based on graphics processors.
Jassy bullish on Trainium's trajectory
Amazon executives, meanwhile, have publicly expressed confidence in demand for the new chip. During a recent earnings call, Chief Executive Andy Jassy said Trainium 3 would deliver about 40% better price-performance than its predecessor, Trainium 2, and that customer interest was strong. By around the middle of 2026, he said, nearly all available supply is expected to be reserved.
Jassy added that development of Trainium 4 — expected to debut around 2027 — is already underway and drawing significant attention from customers. Discussions have even begun about a future Trainium 5. Combined with Amazon's in-house server processor, AWS Graviton, the company's custom chip business already represents a market exceeding US$10 billion in annual revenue, he said, and is still in its early stages.
ASIC shipments closing the gap on GPUs
According to estimates by DIGITIMES Research, shipments of high-end AI ASIC accelerators are projected to reach 5.13 million units in 2025 and 7.23 million in 2026. That remains below shipments of high-end graphics-processing accelerators — projected at 6.52 million and 7.99 million units in those years, respectively.
But ASIC chips are expanding far faster. Shipments of AI ASIC accelerators are expected to grow more than 40% annually in both 2025 and 2026, compared with growth of just over 20% for GPU accelerators.
As a result, while GPU-based servers still dominate the market, their shipment growth rate is slowing — from 29.6% in 2025 to an expected 22.6% in 2026. DIGITIMES Research projects that faster growth in high-end AI ASIC shipments will be a major force driving the next phase of expansion in the global AI server supply chain.
