Altman’s statement advising for increased AI infrastructure surely highlights the necessity of additional data centres.
Sam Altman’s proposed AI chip venture from OpenAI carries a price tag estimated to be in the multi-trillion-dollar range.
According to a Wall Street Journal report citing sources familiar with the discussions, Sam Altman’s AI chip venture is said to necessitate between $5 and $7 trillion in funding. This news follows earlier reports of Altman engaging in talks with investors from the Middle East and chip manufacturing firms to raise capital for bolstering the AI chip supply chain, which involves establishing a global network of fabrication plants.
Altman has reportedly also been in dialogue with members of Congress regarding the augmentation of the global semiconductor supply, particularly to accommodate AI workloads. The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) recorded global semiconductor sales reaching $527 billion last year, with projections from McKinsey suggesting this figure could ascend to $1 trillion annually by 2030.
Despite escalating demand for AI-capable chips, chip designers like Nvidia, heavily reliant on TSMC for manufacturing, have encountered difficulties in meeting demand. Nvidia’s rationing of H100 GPUs reflects these challenges, with shortages expected to persist for approximately 18 months.
Although chip manufacturers like TSMC and Intel have committed substantial investments to establish new chip fabs worldwide, production delays have ensued due to various hurdles, including a shortage of skilled labour.
Altman has refrained from commenting publicly on the alleged discussions. However, he recently underscored the necessity for expanded AI infrastructure, including fabrication capacity, energy resources, and data centres, on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).
Before his abrupt dismissal and subsequent rehiring by OpenAI in November 2023, Bloomberg reported Altman’s pursuit of investments for an AI chip company codenamed ‘Project Tigris,’ possibly emphasizing chip design.
Additionally, Altman is an investor in Rain AI, a neuromorphic semiconductor company from which OpenAI has pledged to procure chips. OpenAI has purportedly assessed a potential acquisition to internalize AI chip manufacturing, with the former head of Google’s TPU AI chip appointed as the company’s hardware lead.
Sam Altman: Age, Wife, Born, Net worth
Name Samuel Harris Altman
Education Stanford University (dropped out)
Known for Loopt, Y Combinator, and OpenAI
Title CEO of OpenAI
Wife Oliver Mulherin
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