OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is in talks with investors, including from the United Arab Emirates, to raise between $5 trillion to $7 trillion in funding. The goal, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, is to increase the world’s chip manufacturing capacity and enhance AI capabilities.
The fundraising efforts are part of a broader strategy to address OpenAI’s growth constraints, particularly the scarcity of AI chips needed for training large language models like ChatGPT.
Altman’s proposal is said to include forming a partnership with investors, chip manufacturers, and power providers to finance the construction of chip foundries, which would then be operated by the chip manufacturers.
I wonder if this will be one of the things pointed at after the AI bubble bursts. Yes, AI will be sticking around, but the hype over it now is ridiculous.
It will collapse when the product sales don’t match the AI spend. I’d say it’s only being propped up by hype money even now.
If you read the article, it mentions that they’re generating $2b/yr in revenue already. It’s not trillions, but damn if that isn’t impressive for a startup.
The way how every single digital product suddenly has AI shoved in it is really reminiscing of the Web bubble before it popped.