OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who has been working to raise billions of dollars from global investors for a chip venture, aims to use the funds to set up a network of factories to manufacture semiconductors, several sources with knowledge of the plans said.
Altman has had conversations with several large potential investors in the hopes of raising the vast sums needed for chip fabs, they said.
Firms that have held discussions with Altman include Abu Dhabi-based G42, sources told Bloomberg last month, with another named firm being Softbank Group Corp, some of them added.
Photo: AFP
The project would involve working with top chip manufacturers, and the network of fabs would be global in scope, they said.
While efforts to raise funds for a chip venture were earlier reported by Bloomberg, the scope of the project and the focus on manufacturing were not previously known. The talks are still early and a full list of involved partners and funders has not been established, the sources said.
Altman’s fundraising push reflects his concern that as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more pervasive, there would not be enough chips for widespread deployment, some of the sources said. Some current forecasts for the production of AI-related chips fall short of projected demand.
Building and maintaining fabs that manufacture semiconductors is far more expensive than the approach favored by many of OpenAI’s industry peers. Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Microsoft Corp — OpenAI’s largest investor — typically focus on designing their own custom silicon and then farm out manufacturing to outside companies.
Constructing a single state-of-the-art fab could require tens of billions of dollars, and creating a network of such facilities would take years. The talks with G42 alone had focused on raising US$8 billion to US$10 billion, sources told Bloomberg previously, although the status of the discussions remains unclear.
Altman believes the industry needs to act now to ensure that there is sufficient supply near the end of the decade, sources familiar with his thinking said.
Since OpenAI released ChatGPT more than a year ago, interest in AI applications has skyrocketed among companies and consumers. That in turn has spurred massive demand for the computing power and processors needed to build and run those AI programs. Altman has said repeatedly that there are not enough chips for his company’s needs.
Intel Corp, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co lead the chip fabrication market and are potential partners for OpenAI.
Altman had been hard at work on the chips project until he was temporarily ousted as OpenAI CEO in November last year. Upon his return, he rekindled the efforts. Altman has also sounded out Microsoft on the plan, and the software giant is interested, two sources said.
Meanwhile, G42 has been the subject of calls this month by a key US lawmaker for greater scrutiny and trade restrictions.
US House China Select Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Wisconsin, raised concerns about G42’s relationships with blacklisted Chinese companies including Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Beijing Genomics Institute, as well as risks to research at US universities. Gallagher urged US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to consider sanctions on G42 and 13 of its subsidiaries and affiliates.
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
TECH WINNERS: Taiwan and South Korea reported robust trade, which suggests that they have critical advantages in the rapidly expanding AI supply chain, an official said Exports last month surged to a new high, as booming demand tied to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure fueled shipments of advanced technology components, underscoring the nation’s pivotal role in the global semiconductor supply chain. Outbound shipments climbed to US$80.18 billion, the highest ever for a single month, rising 61.8 percent from a year earlier and marking the 29th consecutive month of growth, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. “The surge was driven primarily by global investment in AI infrastructure,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said. The mass production of next-generation AI computing systems has accelerated procurement across the semiconductor supply
RSS