Marvell Bets on 'XPU Attach' Propelling Growth in Crowded Semiconductor Market, COO Says -- Interview

By Elias Schisgall

Marvell Technology is counting on a new class of hardware to propel its business in the next few years.

The company is perhaps best known for its custom computer chips, or XPUs, which it makes for artificial-intelligence hyperscaler customers. Now Marvell is also betting on a category it calls XPU attach, which includes hardware that stores, moves, and manages data inside a data center.

That category has "grown a lot faster than we thought," Marvell Chief Operating Officer Chris Koopmans said in an interview. "And Marvell's actually winning a significant share of that market."

At an investor day event on Tuesday, Marvell guided for custom silicon revenue of more than $12 billion in fiscal year 2029. That is up from a previous projection of more than $10 billion, with the increase coming almost entirely from XPU attach.

The new guidance sent shares rallying on Tuesday. The stock closed up 5.8% at $287.01 and has more than tripled in value this year.

Marvell is projecting that custom silicon revenue will grow to roughly $30 billion in fiscal 2031, at which point XPU attach will represent closer to half of the segment.

That compares with the roughly $1.5 billion Marvell brought in from its custom silicon business in fiscal 2026, which Koopmans said was "almost all compute from XPU" rather than the associated components.

The increased focus on XPU attach is in part a hedge against a semiconductor market where hyperscalers, AI labs, and new entrants are working on new computer chips. Koopmans said Marvell has to be selective about developing custom chips for new customers, given the costs and risks involved.

"If you add all those up, it's a little bit of a scary market," he said. "They can't all be successful."

The XPU attach products, on the other hand, can be paired with any computer chip, Koopmans said, adding that they are similar to those Marvell has supplied for years. The products are also stickier and carry higher margins, he said.

"These customers, these hyperscalers specifically, are looking for custom versions of these products to attach to whatever XPU they're using," Koopmans said. "If I'm not betting all on one thing to succeed or fail, but instead, I'm attaching to all of the XPUs that they're deploying, it gives me a lot more confidence."

The category is also fueling Marvell's estimate of a $120 billion revenue opportunity from its deal with Google. The agreement gives Google a warrant to buy Marvell shares the more XPU attach products they buy through fiscal 2033.

The projection is only partially included in Marvell's new long-term targets, which also call for the company's total revenue to reach around $20 billion in fiscal 2028 and grow to between $70 billion and $90 billion in fiscal 2031.

The forecast represents Marvell's pragmatic approach to guidance, Koopmans said. He said investors should feel confident about the stability of the XPU attach segment and Marvell's track record of hitting its goals.

"It's kind of our culture. We're not interested in trying to go tit for tat and raise the bar every time," he said. "Just put a pragmatic target out there and hit it."

Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 06, 2026 18:01 ET (22:01 GMT)