Bloomberg reports: OpenAI CEO plans to build his own wafer factory!
More news: Bloomberg on January 21, citing sources familiar with the matter, said that OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman is working to find new investors and finance the construction of its chip production network.
* Sam Ultraman.
Mr. Sam Altman is currently in secret talks with several potential large investors to raise large sums of money for the construction of the plant, according to people familiar with the matter. According to people familiar with the matter, the plan will work with top chip manufacturers and build a network of factories around the world. Previously, it was rumored that OpenAI would design and ** its own AI chips.
Ultraman has said more than once that the current AI chips can no longer meet the needs of society.
People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg last month that Ultraman had negotiated with Abu Dhabi G42, Japan's SoftBank and other companies, and G42 alone raised $8 billion to $10 billion.
*Shown is NVIDIA's GH200 series processors.
According to people familiar with the matter, Altman's move reflects that when artificial intelligence becomes more popular, the number of chips will not be enough to cope with the needs of various applications. For AI-related chips, some of the current estimates are less than expected.
It would take several years to build a multi-billion dollar facility, and overall, it's much more expensive than other similar companies at OpenAI. For example, as OpenAI's largest investors, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have all focused on their own chip designs and outsourced manufacturing to manufacturers like TSMC.
*: AI server.
Altman believes the industry needs to act now to ensure there are enough chips on the market by the end of 2020, according to people familiar with the matter. With OpenAI's Chat GPT project proposed more than a year ago, both commercial and personal, there has been a great deal of interest in the application of artificial intelligence, while also sparking an urgent need for its performance.
Companies such as Intel, TSMC, and Samsung are leading the way in chip production and have the potential to collaborate with Open AI.
Altman is said to have been working on the chip until he was suspended as CEO of OpenAI last November. When he returned home, he rekindled his passion for the project. Altman has also worked with Microsoft to test the program, and Microsoft has "shown strong interest," two people familiar with the matter said.