According to a recent Bloomberg report, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is actively raising funds to propel the development of a global network of fabrication factories for AI chips. Altman's vision involves collaboration with undisclosed top chip manufacturers to address the increasing demand for high-powered chips essential for running complex AI models like ChatGPT and DALL-E.
The scarcity of advanced chip fabrication facilities has led to a competitive race, with Altman aiming to secure manufacturing capacity years in advance. Nvidia's substantial market share, driven by the popularity of its H100 GPUs in models such as GPT-4, Gemini, and Llama 2, has propelled the company's value beyond $1 trillion. To compete in this landscape, Altman is seeking deep-pocketed investors, with talks reportedly underway with SoftBank Group and G42, an Abu Dhabi-based AI holding company.
The quest for AI dominance in chip development extends beyond OpenAI, as companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google venture into creating their own custom chips. Microsoft, an investor in OpenAI, recently unveiled its Azure Maia 100 AI processor, while Amazon introduced a new version of its Trainium chip. Google's chip design team is leveraging its DeepMind AI to craft processors like the Tensor Processing Units (TPU).
Notably, Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, revealed plans to own over 340,000 of Nvidia's H100 GPUs by the end of the year, emphasizing the industry's pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI).
While Nvidia continues to announce advancements like the next-generation GH200 Grace Hopper chips, competitors such as AMD, Qualcomm, and Intel are also launching processors tailored for AI models across various devices, including laptops and smartphones. As the demand for high-performance AI chips intensifies, Altman's initiative underscores the need for significant investments to stay at the forefront of this rapidly evolving technological landscape.