CNBC is reporting that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is seeking a massive investment – potentially up to $7 trillion – to fund a new project aimed at expanding the global semiconductor industry’s capacity to produce AI chips.
This initiative is seen as a response to the current supply-and-demand problem in the AI chip market, where the demand from AI companies (including OpenAI) far exceeds the available supply. The scarcity of AI chips is a bottleneck that limits the growth of these companies, which rely on these chips to train large language models (like ChatGPT).
I’m not sure how Sam came up with the $7 trillion number. It’s more money than the market capitalizations of the world’s largest tech companies combined. That said, chip-making is extremely capital intensive – and AI is a super-chip-hungry business – so let’s see if there’s a new, safe, awesome, $7 trillion supply chain in our future.
Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it. This work was created with the assistance of various generative AI models.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with AI strategy, implementation and governance, as well as technology, media and marketing. Named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Technology, he is a bestselling author, covers tech and business for Fox 5’s Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN, and writes the popular daily business blog Think About This. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.