OpenAI is releasing its first artificial intelligence (AI) model that runs on chips from semiconductor startup Cerebras Systems Inc, part of a push by the ChatGPT maker to broaden the pool of chipmakers it works with beyond Nvidia Corp. The model, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark, is intended to be a less powerful but quicker version of its most recent Codex software for automating coding. The Spark model, slated to be released on Thursday, lets software engineers quickly complete tasks such as editing specific chunks of code and running tests. Users can easily interrupt it or order the model to complete something else coding-related without having to wait for it to finish a lengthy computing process.
Last month, OpenAI signed a deal worth more than US$10 billion for hardware from Cerebras to get quicker responses from its AI models. For Cerebras, the partnership offers a significant boost in its bid to compete in a market long dominated by Nvidia.
For OpenAI, the deal was the latest move to work with more suppliers to meet its growing computing needs. OpenAI struck a blockbuster agreement in October last year with Nvidia rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc to buy 6 gigawatts’ worth of AMD graphics processing units over multiple years.
Photo: Reuters
Later that month, OpenAI agreed to buy custom chips and networking components from Broadcom Inc. More recently, OpenAI’s relationship with Nvidia has come under scrutiny amid reports of tensions between the two firms. The chief executives of both companies have since publicly said they remain committed to working together.
In a statement on Thursday last week, an OpenAI spokesperson said the company’s partnership with Nvidia is “foundational” and that OpenAI’s most powerful AI models are the result of “multi-year hardware and software engineering done side by side” between the two companies. “That’s why we are anchoring on Nvidia as the core of our training and inference stack, while deliberately expanding the ecosystem around it through partnerships with Cerebras, AMD and Broadcom,” the spokesperson said.
The new model marks
OpenAI’s latest attempt to best AI rivals such as Alphabet Inc’s Google and Anthropic PBC, which are competing for dominance in the rapidly growing market for AI coding assistants. Codex has more than 1 million weekly active users, OpenAI said.
Initially, the updated AI model would be available to ChatGPT Pro subscribers as a research preview, the company said, with plans to roll it out to more users in the coming weeks.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
Memory chip stocks extended their losses yesterday after Alphabet Inc’s Google publicized research that could allow more efficient use of the storage needed for artificial intelligence (AI) development. SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, South Korean leaders in the market, fell more than 6 percent and about 5 percent respectively in Seoul. In the US, Micron Technology Inc, Western Digital Corp and Sandisk Corp slid more than 2 percent in pre-market trading, after they all closed lower on Wednesday. Memory companies have been on a tear in recent months as the rapid development of AI infrastructure triggered a spike in chip