Broadcom CEO Hock Tan says Anthropic is on track to become the company's largest customer for custom AI chips in fiscal 2027 and will hold that spot into 2028. Macquarie responded by upgrading Broadcom to Outperform with a $490 price target, citing the Anthropic growth outlook and fading risk from Google's chip insourcing.
Broadcom's chief executive told investors on the company's Q3 2026 earnings call that Anthropic is on track to become its single largest customer for custom AI accelerators, known as XPUs, in 2027, and is expected to hold that spot into 2028. Macquarie followed with an upgrade of Broadcom from Neutral to Outperform and a $490 price target, pointing to reduced concern over Google's chip insourcing and strong growth prospects tied to Anthropic.
Anthropic's chip build-out accelerates
Anthropic's hardware push underpins the call. The company placed a $10 billion order for Google TPU Ironwood racks in December 2025, followed by an additional $11 billion order. It is planning 1 gigawatt of TPU capacity in 2026, scaling to 5 GW of TPU v8i capacity in 2027, with the potential to reach 10 GW in 2028. Broadcom has already begun production shipments of the next-generation TPU v8i, and it also supplies custom accelerators for OpenAI's Jalapeño chips.
Macquarie's upgrade rests on the numbers
Macquarie's upgrade rests on the quarter's results: Broadcom's revenue grew 33% quarter-over-quarter to $29.6 billion, in line with its own estimates and 5% above FactSet. Gross profit margin fell 2% quarter-over-quarter to 75.0% as lower-margin AI semiconductor revenue grew faster than higher-margin software, though Broadcom's trailing-twelve-month gross margin still stands at 76.28%. Net profit beat both Macquarie and FactSet estimates, by 4% and 5% respectively.
The stock has corrected approximately 24% from its 2026 high, trading at $367.24 against a 52-week high of $495. Macquarie said the risk from Google insourcing its own TPU production and diversifying to MediaTek has been priced into the stock, and that Google's direct investment in MediaTek confirms the shift is under way.
A broader customer base offsets the Google risk
Management expects Anthropic to become its largest XPU customer from fiscal 2027 and has guided AI semiconductor revenue to double in fiscal 2027 and 2028. Macquarie forecasts Anthropic will purchase more than $40 billion from Broadcom in fiscal 2028, offsetting the Google shortfall. The firm also expects OpenAI to become Broadcom's second-largest XPU customer by fiscal 2028 with more than 5 GW of Jalapeno and its successor chip, while Meta ships three MTIA generations totaling 3 GW over the same period.
Sources: Crypto Briefing, Investing.com
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