智谱AI正探索定制ASIC芯片，GLM-5.2使用量一周暴增27倍

Per The Information, Zhipu AI is also (after DeepSeek) exploring a custom ASIC after GLM-5.2 usage reportedly jumped 27x in one week.

A custom ASIC removes flexibility, but it can cut power draw and per-token cost.

Nvidia GPUs are strong general-purpose machines, but inference at scale has different economics. A fixed model can run better on silicon designed around its own repeated operations.

Zhipu has not chosen a partner, and the project may take more than 2 years.

The pattern is now bigger than one Chinese lab or one model launch. Chinese AI companies are trying to make software, hardware, and deployment less separable.