Sam Altman, CEO of leading AI lab OpenAI, is pursuing a grand vision to reshape the semiconductor industry in service of advancing artificial intelligence. As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, Altman is in talks with investors — including government funds from the United Arab Emirates — to raise a staggering $5 to $7 trillion in support of this goal. Yes, you read that right—trillion, with a 'T'.
we believe the world needs more ai infrastructure--fab capacity, energy, datacenters, etc--than people are currently planning to build.
— Sam Altman (@sama) February 7, 2024
building massive-scale ai infrastructure, and a resilient supply chain, is crucial to economic competitiveness.
openai will try to help!
The money would fund construction of potentially dozens of new chip fabrication plants (known as "foundries") over the next few years. Per the WSJ's reporting, the foundries would be built and operated by existing major chip makers like Taiwan Semiconductors Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC). OpenAI would sign on as a major customer of the new foundries.
Altman's aim is to significantly expand global production capacity for the types of advanced AI chips, called GPUs, that are currently in short supply yet critical for companies developing cutting-edge AI systems. OpenAI has complained about the lack of GPUs available to power its own research toward human-level AI capabilities as exemplified by chatbot ChatGPT.
The scale of investment being sought is unprecedented, dwarfing the current $527 billion global semiconductor market as well as far exceeding total U.S. corporate debt issuance last year. It signals the enormous infrastructure demands to achieve OpenAI's grand ambitions for artificial general intelligence.
Key challenges exist, from securing U.S. government approval given potential national security considerations, to the practical difficulties of rapidly standing up major chip fabrication plants. Geopolitics also loom large, with tensions around China's own AI aspirations and limits on exporting certain high-end chips.
Nonetheless, Altman's bold plan and ability to court major backers like Abu Dhabi reflect the heights of current optimism about AI's transformative potential across industries. With titans like Microsoft also investing heavily in this AI future, seismic shifts in the technology landscape appear on the horizon. Where exactly the chips may fall remains to be seen.Sam Altman, CEO of leading AI lab OpenAI, is pursuing a grand vision to reshape the global semiconductor industry in service of advancing artificial intelligence. As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, Altman is in talks with investors — including government funds from the United Arab Emirates led by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan — to raise a staggering $5 to $7 trillion in support of this goal.
The money would help fund construction of dozens of new chip fabrication plants (known as “foundries”) over the next few years. Per the WSJ reporting, the proposed model would involve OpenAI partnering with investors, chip fabricators like Taiwan Semiconductors Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC), and energy providers. Together they would finance foundries that would then be operated by chipmakers with OpenAI guaranteeing orders.
Altman's aim is to significantly expand global production capacity for the types of advanced AI chips, called graphics processing units (GPUs), that are currently in short supply. OpenAI has complained about the lack of GPUs available to power its own research toward advanced AI capabilities as exemplified by viral chatbot ChatGPT.
The scale of investment being sought is unprecedented, dwarfing the current $527 billion global semiconductor market as well as far exceeding total U.S. corporate debt issuance last year. It signals the enormous infrastructure demands to achieve OpenAI's ambitions for artificial general intelligence.
OpenAI has reportedly discussed the vision with players like SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and TSMC itself. In talks with TSMC, Altman has said he wants dozens of foundries built in short order. The facilities would consume massive amounts of energy, hence the need for power providers to be part of the undertaking.
Key challenges exist, from securing U.S. government approval given potential national security considerations, to the practical difficulties of rapidly standing up major chip plants. Altman would prefer to build in the U.S., but existing efforts by TSMC face delays and other hurdles. Geopolitics also loom large, with tensions around China's own AI aspirations.
Nonetheless, Altman's bold plan and ability to court major backers like Abu Dhabi reflect the heights of current optimism about AI's transformative potential across industries. With titans like Microsoft also investing heavily in this AI future, seismic shifts in the technology landscape appear on the horizon. Where exactly the chips may fall remains to be seen.