Altman Eyes Raising $7 Trillion for his AI Chip Project
This amount surpasses the current valuation of the entire global chips market and exceeds the combined market capitalization of tech giants Apple and Microsoft.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has plans to raise a sum of $5 to $7 trillion for an initiative aimed at revolutionizing the global chip-building capacity.[1]
This amount surpasses the current valuation of the entire global chip market and exceeds the combined market capitalization of tech giants Apple and Microsoft.
A few tech behemoths with demanding requirements are driving the surge in demand for AI chips. Major players like Microsoft and Amazon are investing heavily in developing their chip manufacturing capabilities. Notably, there has been a shortage of Nvidia's H100 chips, priced at $40,000 each and renowned as the most potent AI chip available.
Acknowledging the importance of chip technology in the race to lead in artificial intelligence, the US government has announced a significant investment of over $5 billion in semiconductor-related research, development, and workforce training to bolster domestic chip production.
Altman's project aims to alleviate chip supply constraints for OpenAI, recognizing that chips are not only indispensable for powering existing AI models like ChatGPT but also serve as a stepping stone towards realizing the company's vision of artificial general intelligence (AGI)—AI systems capable of human-like reasoning.
Altman has engaged in discussions with key government officials, including Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan, the top security official of the UAE, and US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, in addition to seeking support from investors and industry partners.
The proposed strategy involves collaborating with existing chip manufacturers to establish state-of-the-art chip foundries, with OpenAI committing to become a significant customer of these facilities.