OpenAI’s Sam Altman seeking $7 trillion to solve the global chip shortage issue – WSJ

Tech entrepreneur Sam Altman is reportedly taking a peek to expand between $5 trillion and $7 trillion to support fund the manufacturing of microchips to expand availability for AI and machine learning, the Wall Avenue Journal reported on Feb. 8.

The funding shall be at risk of save factories or fund present chip manufacturing companies, with OpenAI easiest performing as a “distinguished buyer.” The hassle would no longer design to expand money for Altman’s OpenAI, ultimate identified for its ChatGPT chatbot and GPT natty language devices (LLMs).

Sources suggested the newspaper that the fundraising may presumably perchance well largely be funded by debt and may presumably perchance well take a pair of years to full.

Possible investors

To finance the mission, Altman reportedly seeks investments from a largely unknown checklist of investors.

Altman has reportedly talked about the endeavor with SoftBank, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), and Microsoft, although it’s miles unclear whether these companies may presumably perchance presumably additionally take part as investors or in a single other goal. Additionally, sources said the UAE has been fragment of the talks and may presumably perchance well change into a capability investor.

Altman has reportedly met with US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to be in contact about the subject, because the authorities must approve the kind of endeavor. Nonetheless, there are considerations that the involvement of the UAE is usually a capability roadblock.

The Journal notorious that US lawmakers previously urged the Division of Commerce to compare Abu Dhabi-essentially essentially based AI company G42 in January. OpenAI partnered with G42 in October 2023.

Addressing the chip shortage

The Journal’s file notorious that Altman’s fundraising plans “face distinguished limitations” and “within the kill may presumably perchance well no longer succeed” because the multi-trillion dollar design is “outlandishly natty.”

In response to the newspaper, Altman’s efforts may presumably perchance well nonetheless tackle the broadly acknowledged subject of chip shortages. Nonetheless, the file notorious that his funding design is better than most national money owed and sovereign wealth funds — it’s miles also price more than the complete chip industry as of the dwell of 2023.

World chip gross sales are price $527 billion as soon as a year and are projected to set apart $1 trillion by 2030 on the earliest. Meanwhile, gross sales of semiconductor manufacturing tools yarn for one other $100 billion as soon as a year.

OpenAI has been vocal about the shortages and said in October that it’s miles inquisitive about manufacturing its bear chips in-apartment to resolve the subject. Experiences from January steered that these efforts may presumably perchance well discover OpenAI elevating $100 billion.

It is a ways unclear whether these plans overlap with the trillion-dollar fundraising initiative reported by the Journal. Varied companies enjoy also started designing their very bear chips, including Meta, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, albeit with third-celebration companies facing the manufacturing.