OpenAI is collaborating with US chipmaker Broadcom to launch its own artificial intelligence (AI) chip next year. This move marks an important step for OpenAI in seeking independence from third-party semiconductor companies within the industry. According to a report by the Financial Times, this new graphics processing unit (GPU) will be exclusively used for internal purposes at OpenAI and will not be sold to the public.

OpenAI

Image source note: The image is AI-generated, and the image licensing service is Midjourney.

On Thursday, Broadcom's CEO Hock Tan told investors that the company has signed a $1 billion deal with a new undisclosed customer to develop a new AI chip. Analysts generally believe that the new customer is OpenAI, and a report by the Wall Street Journal confirmed this speculation.

In the current AI boom, GPUs have become a crucial technological pillar for generative AI, supporting chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. So far, this market has been dominated by Nvidia, whose A100 and H100 chips have seen a surge in demand, significantly boosting the company's market value and making it one of the richest companies in the world.

However, the AI chip supply chain is highly concentrated, causing many tech companies to often wait several months for orders of new chips, which has led to sharp price increases. Therefore, top AI companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta have started to seek ways to reduce their reliance on third-party chip manufacturers like Nvidia, launching their own chip manufacturing projects.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously stated that the company urgently needs to develop its own chips, but the specific implementation plan has not been clarified. Last year, it was reported that OpenAI was collaborating with Broadcom and TSMC to develop its own AI chips. In March of this year, TSMC also announced an investment of $100 million in chip manufacturing in the US.

Globally, the pressure on AI chip supplies is increasing, which is closely related to the demand of major tech companies for building large data centers. The construction of data centers requires a lot of water and electricity, further increasing the urgent need for AI chips.

Key points:

🌟 OpenAI is collaborating with Broadcom to develop an AI chip, which will be mass-produced next year and used internally.

💰 The cooperation agreement between Broadcom and OpenAI is worth up to $1 billion.

⏳ The AI chip market is concentrated, leading to long order waiting times and rising prices.