On Thursday, Amazon’s head of devices and services, Panos Panay, discussed the future of Amazon’s smart devices with CNBC, including the company’s end-to-end silicon chips. In the interview, Panoy also revealed the plans AI devices of the future and its advanced Alexa Plus AI assistant.
That Amazon-only design, currently on the AZ3 and AZ3 Pro chips, is on the devices I tested, such as Echo Show 8 again Echo Show 11 (now in my kitchen), and Fire TV. Panay says more devices are on the way.
The latest chips are designed to use as much AI on the device as possible, improving response times and generally making it more secure than relying on cloud processing.
“If we’re going to deliver this immersive experience at home to people in a very secure way, we have to think about how the final delivery of the hardware fits together,” Panay said, although he added that Amazon still uses Qualcomm chips for other purposes.
This could also give Amazon more control over the price of the device. While computer chips do not look the same as related to AI costs increased such as graphics processing units — something CNET called RAMageddon — prices are still rising. Keeping most of the manufacturing process in-house could help Amazon determine consumer prices with more visibility.
An Amazon representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Amazon’s chips are the start of a new focus on AI
Alexa Plus can do a lot, but now Amazon wants it on the go.
Why the new focus on end-to-end chip design? According to Panay, it comes down to improving security and AI, especially its Alexa Plus capabilities. Alexa Plus the latest version of Amazon’s voice assistant (free with Amazon Prime, $20 for more skills otherwise), built with AI chat.
I used it to talk about using recipeschange its settings, creating automatic doorbell conversationsordering GrubHub and more, but Amazon is just getting started.
“I think we may be moving away from a world of apps and screens,” Panay told CNBC, emphasizing Amazon’s focus on the voice assistant. He said Amazon has a lab full of devices it’s testing, including “a whole street of devices on the way.” That could explain Amazon’s purchase of the Bee wearable product in 2025.
What those Alexa Plus mobile devices look like remains to be seen, but according to Amazon, we won’t have to wait long. We have already seen devices like AI pins can listen to your daily conversations and take notes on them, but they’re never particularly useful and raise privacy questions about what this technology is listening to.
Speaking of privacy, it is important to note that Amazon automatically processes voice commands given by devices such as the Echo Show 11 for analysis, and while you can. turn off some Alexa settings, you can’t fix that one.
This is the new wave AI machines it may come with similar requirements, so think about how much you want Amazon to know about you.