Amazon’s Lab126 will deploy two custom chips, “Project Kaleidoscope” for Fire TV Stick and “Project Marzipan” in Echo Dot, boosting voice response 25% faster and reducing power draw 30% on units shipping in Q3 2026. The silicon cuts component costs 20%, raises hardware gross margins 150 basis points and trims wake latency by 0.2 seconds.
Amazon’s hardware arm, Lab126, will introduce two bespoke ASICs: “Project Kaleidoscope” tailored for Fire TV Stick models and “Project Marzipan” built into the upcoming Echo Dot. Shipments begin in Q3 2026, marking the first consumer devices powered by Amazon-designed silicon.
Project Kaleidoscope accelerates video decoding and streaming startup by 25%, while Project Marzipan cuts the Echo’s voice-wake power draw by 30% and reduces microphone-to-response latency by 0.2 seconds. Both chips integrate Arm cores and custom AI accelerators.
By replacing third-party processors, Amazon projects a 20% reduction in per-unit component costs. This is expected to boost hardware gross margins by roughly 150 basis points on Echo and Fire TV device lines.
The move extends Amazon’s in-house chip strategy from data center (Graviton) into consumer hardware, aiming to differentiate on performance and cost versus Roku, Google Nest and Apple HomePod. Custom silicon also lays groundwork for future AI-driven features at the device edge.
