While the world is buzzing with posts on the social media platform X on the launch of Sora, the video AI platform by Open AI, news reports come up on Sam Altman and his move to raise funds for the global manufacturing of artificial intelligence (AI) chips.
A report by Bloomberg stated that Altman is working to secure approvals from the US government for his massive venture. The report highlighted that this effort can be a risk to antitrust and national security concerns that are arising in the US.
Open AI’s chief is said to have met with a few potential investors and partners in the Middle East, US, and Asia over the past few weeks. However, reportedly he has stated he needs approvals from Washington.
It was earlier reported Altman is seeking $5 trillion to $7 trillion to bring an overhaul in the semiconductor industry, according to multiple independent reports. Altman, is currently in talks with global investors, including the government of the UAE.
He has stated that AI chip limitations hinder OpenAI’s growth, and with this investment he would work to increase chip-building capacity. For some time now, Altman has highlighted the supply-demand issue for AI chips. While several AI giants are looking to get AI Chips, there aren’t enough to cater to this demand. This in turn, limits their growth, including OpenAI.
Currently, Intel, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, and Samsung are the main companies that fabricate the chips.
The OpenAI CEO had also posted on X that “the world needs more AI infrastructure – fab capacity, datacentres, energy etc… than people are currently planning to build.” He went on to post that building a massive-scale AI infrastructure with a resilient supply chain is crucial to economic competitiveness, that OpenAI would try to help.
This isn’t the first time that Altman has been looking for chip endeavours, before his brief ouster as CEO, he was seeking billions for a non-yet-formed chip venture code – Tigris. This was said to compete with Nvidia, and he is believed to have then too been travelling to the Middle East to raise money from investors.
Alman, had also invested in the AI chip company Rain Neuromorphics, in 2018. And immediately in the following year, OpenAI had signed a letter of intent to spend over $51 million the company’s chips.
