OpenAI founder Sam Altman Planning a Trillion-Dollar AI Chip Business, which could cost several trillion dollars. According to sources familiar with the discussions, Altman has been talking to potential investors about needing $5 to $7 trillion for the project.
This news follows reports that Altman has been talking to investors and chip companies in the Middle East to raise money for a venture aimed at strengthening the AI chip supply chain. This would involve creating a network of fabrication plants worldwide.
Altman has also been in talks with members of Congress to increase the supply of semiconductors capable of supporting AI tasks. Last year, global semiconductor sales reached $527 billion, and experts predict it could hit $1 trillion annually by 2030. Altman’s project is comparable in size to the combined growth of all the world’s economies in 2023.
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OpenAI founder Sam Altman Planning a Trillion-Dollar AI Chip Business
There’s a growing demand for chips that can handle AI tasks, but companies like Nvidia, which rely on manufacturers like TSMC, are struggling to keep up. Nvidia has been limiting availability of its H100 GPUs, expecting shortages to last 18 months.
Despite significant investments by chip manufacturers like TSMC and Intel to build new fabs in the US, Japan, and Europe, some production dates have been delayed due to challenges like a shortage of skilled workers.
Altman hasn’t commented publicly on these discussions yet.
Recently, he mentioned on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he believes the world needs more AI infrastructure like fabs, energy, and data centers than currently planned. He stressed the importance of building a resilient supply chain for economic competitiveness, and OpenAI aims to contribute to this.
Before Altman’s rehiring by OpenAI in November 2023, reports suggested he was seeking investment for an AI chip company, possibly focusing on chip design.
Altman is also an investor in Rain AI, a neuromorphic semiconductor company that OpenAI plans to purchase chips from. OpenAI has reportedly considered acquiring a target company to bring AI chip manufacturing in-house, hiring a former Google TPU AI chip lead as its hardware head.
