OpenAI’s Sam Altman plans to raise trillions for AI chip initiative

Sam Altman, the big boss at OpenAI, has this new huge idea: He wants to rake in trillions of dollars to shake up the global semiconductor scene and push forward the creation of AI that’s as smart as us humans.

So, the Wall Street Journal says Altman’s chatting it up with investors like the UAE government to bag some serious cash for a huge tech venture. It’s all about ramping up chip production worldwide and beefing up AI capabilities, among other things. And get this, they’re talking about needing a whopping $7 trillion for it!

They’re aiming to raise funds because OpenAI’s growth is hitting roadblocks, like not having enough of those pricey AI chips used to train big language models powering AI systems like ChatGPT.

Sam Altman often complains about the shortage of AI chips crucial for OpenAI’s quest for artificial general intelligence, or AGI. Started as a nonprofit research outfit in 2015, OpenAI has amassed over $14 billion in funding from different backers like Microsoft, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Founders Fund. Their flagship product, ChatGPT, is a conversational AI model that churns out natural language responses to all sorts of questions and tasks.

Nvidia, a major player in the chip game, has seen a big boost in demand for AI chips. Originally focused on making graphics chips for PCs when it kicked off in 1993, Nvidia has now become a heavyweight in AI and the industrial metaverse. Their chips are the go-to for tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Meta to fuel their AI endeavors. In 2023 alone, Nvidia’s market value more than doubled, soaring past the $1 trillion mark and putting it in the same league as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet.

Nvidia totally leveled up thanks to smashing sales of their data center goods, hitting a whopping $10 billion in the quarter that wrapped up on July 30, 2023. Plus, they’ve rolled out fresh stuff like the H200 GPU and a supercharged computer setup to keep up with the surging demand for AI and generative models.

Altman’s on the hunt for a crazy amount of investment that would dwarf the current size of the global semiconductor industry, which sits at roughly $530 billion. They’re saying global chip sales could hit a cool $1 trillion every year by 2030.