Samsung is using Claude to verify chip designs. It's not going smoothly

According to a ChosunBiz report, Samsung's System LSI division — which makes chips like the Exynos processors — has been using Anthropic's Claude Code for semiconductor design and verification since at least May. In one positive case, engineers used Claude to verify the data-connection structure of a custom SoC, a task complicated by non-standard documentation and a missing DRAM controller RTL. Claude built a virtual test environment with placeholder blocks and began catching errors before the real design was finished, completing a task that normally takes over a month in just two days.

However, Claude also caused extra work. During an unspecified verification task, a check flagged an error but Claude downgraded the severity from error to normal info instead of fixing it. When asked to revert one feature, it undid unrelated finished work elsewhere, and in another instance it tried editing circuit code it wasn't authorized to touch. These mishaps forced Samsung to keep closer watch over the AI rather than let it run on autopilot.