OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been in discussions with members of Congress about building new semiconductor factories in the United States to keep up with the growing demand for AI programs.
Altman has met privately with several members of Congress to discuss where and how to build new semiconductor factories, according to the Washington Post. The OpenAI CEO has become concerned about how the demand for AI may outpace the amount of chips available. He is attempting to get investors to back a new AI chipmaking endeavor to give OpenAI more direct control over the supply chain. This investment would help OpenAI wean off its reliance on leading chipmaker Nvidia, whose products are considered the ideal chips for building the infrastructure to run an AI’s large language model.
Altman has been discussing investing in his unnamed chip venture with several relevant parties. The OpenAI CEO met with executives from the Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC, according to the Financial Times. TSMC is considered one of the leading chipmakers and currently accounts for the vast majority of chips in the market. Altman also met with investors from the Middle East and venture capitalists Peter Thiel and Vinod Khosla. He has discussed a “network of factories,” according to Bloomberg.
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The expansion into chips coincides with the White House and Congress attempting to get technology companies to build their chip manufacturing plants in the U.S. through the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act. The act set aside more than $52 billion to incentivize companies like Intel, Nvidia, and TSMC to have their manufacturing plants in the U.S.
The majority of AI developers are racing to acquire Nvidia’s chips, although competitors like Advanced Micro Devices and Intel are attempting to develop their own alternative products. Big Tech companies such as Google and Amazon are also trying to design and manufacture their chips.
