Reading guide:Local time1month21day,Bloomberg, citing several people familiar with the matter,OpenAICESam Altman is approaching to bring in new investors and raise billions of dollars to build a chip manufacturing network。
图:Sam Altman
Sam Altman has privately held talks with several large potential investors in hopes of raising the huge amount of money needed for the fab, the people said. Some people familiar with the matter said the project would involve working with top chipmakers and that the fab network would cover the globe. Previously, OpenAI had been rumored to design and launch its own AI-specific chip.
Altman has repeatedly said that the current production capacity of AI-specific chips is no longer enough to meet his company's needs.
People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg last month that companies that had discussed with Altman included Abu Dhabi-based G42 and Japan's SoftBank Group, with negotiations with G42 alone raising between $8 billion and $10 billion.
Pictured: NVIDIA GH200
Some people familiar with the matter said Altman's new move reflects his concern that there won't be enough chips to deploy widely as AI becomes more common. Some current forecasts for AI-related chip production are lower than expected demand.
While it could cost tens of billions of dollars to build a state-of-the-art fab, it would take years to build a network of such facilities, and the combined cost is much more expensive than the approach favored by many of OpenAI's peers. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft (OpenAI's largest investors) typically focus on designing their own custom chips and then outsource manufacturing to foundries like TSMC.
Figure: AI server
Altman believes the industry needs to act now to ensure there is enough chip supply by the end of the decade, according to people familiar with Altman's thinking. Since OpenAI released ChatGPT more than a year ago, business and consumer interest in AI applications has skyrocketed, which in turn has spurred a huge demand for the computing power and processors needed to build and run these AI programs.
Intel, TSMC, and Samsung Electronics are leaders in the chip manufacturing market and are also potential partners for OpenAI.
It is reported that Altman had previously been working on the chip project until he was temporarily removed from the position of CEO of OpenAI in November last year. After his return, he rekindled his enthusiasm for hard work. Altman also probed Microsoft about the plan, which was "very interested," according to two people familiar with the matter.