Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, aims to redesign the global semiconductor sector after revolutionizing the AI market with ChatGPT.
Altman tends to do this by funding $5 to $7 trillion to “increase the world’s chip-building capacity and expand its ability to power AI, among other things.”
According to the Bloomsberg report, Altman is negotiating with the UAE government, SoftBank, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), among other investors, to finance the vast sum.
According to sources, Altman previously negotiated with Abu Dhabi-based AI startup G42 and SoftBank Group about a new semiconductor partnership to offer AI chips internationally. OpenAI had previously partnered with G42 to deliver AI services in the regional markets.
Altman’s ambition to dominate the chip supply chain would not only assist OpenAI sIf successful, the program will assist Altman in building a vast firm based on market demand. secure lower pricing, but will also influence the evolution of the AI ecosystem.
Shortage of AI chips
The increasing usage of AI has resulted in a severe scarcity of AI chips or GPUs, stifling the industry’s progress. Altman wants to manage the whole value chain to ensure that chip scarcity does not stifle the expansion of the AI ecosystem. Nvidia, which built the processor utilized in ChatGPT, is widely regarded as the industry leader in AI technology.
The demand for chips that can handle AI workloads has never been stronger. However, chip makers like Nvidia, which rely on TSMC for production, have failed to stay up. Nvidia has been limited in the availability of its H100 GPUs, with the company predicting that shortages will last for around 18 months.
Furthermore, despite chip makers such as TSMC and Intel spending billions of dollars to develop new chip fabs in the United States, Japan, and Europe, a number of these facilities have had their production dates pushed back due to a variety of issues, including a shortage of experienced staff.
Altman and OpenAI
Earlier this week, Altman wrote on X, the social media network formerly known as Twitter: “We believe the world needs more AI infrastructure–fab capacity, electricity, data centers, and so on–than people are currently intending to create. Building massive-scale artificial intelligence infrastructure and a robust supply chain is critical for economic competitiveness. Openai will try to help!”
Before Altman was abruptly fired and then rehired by OpenAI in November 2023, it was reported that the CEO was seeking money to develop an artificial intelligence chip startup dubbed project ‘Tigris,’ which might be more focused on chip design.
He also invests in Rain AI, a neuromorphic semiconductor business from which OpenAI promised to acquire chips.
OpenAI is claimed to have assessed a prospective acquisition target to bring AI chip production in-house, and the business has hired the former lead of Google’s TPU AI chip as its head of hardware.
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