You probably know the company OpenAI thanks to its LLM AI chatbot, ChatGPT. But the company still gets chips from established chipmakers to develop its own AI. That may change in the future, as the company is considering making its own chips.
Reuters reports that OpenAI has discussed internally the prospect of developing its own AI chips to “solve the shortage of expensive AI chips”. This may involve working with chip makers including Nvidia, one of the most prominent in the market in the field of AI development. Beyond just working closely, the company also intends to diversify its suppliers beyond the green graphics company.
The report also notes that OpenAI “has gone as far as evaluating a potential acquisition target” for its in-house chip endeavours. While the identity of the company to be acquired remains a mistery, the report notes that such discussions have been ongoing “since at least last year”.
It would make sense for OpenAI to consider making its own chips in-house. The report quotes CEO Sam Altman describing the necessary hardware needed for AI development as “eye-watering”. Also cited in the report was Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon, who says that each query on ChatGPT costs the company about US$0.04 (~RM0.19). Being able to develop its own chips would likely bring costs down.
All that being said, the report states that OpenAI has not yet made a hard decision on its plans for the future on this front. And even if it did decide on in-house chip development, it likely won’t be able to benefit from it for at least a few years. Though an acquisition of a chip maker would speed up the process somewhat.
(Source: Reuters)
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