Altman is said to be talking with several large investors to raise sums for chip fabrication plants, and while details are sketchy possible investors could include Intel, TSMC, and Samsung Electronics.
In fact, Altman met with both Samsing and Hynix representatives during a visit to South Korea. SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics make high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in artificial intelligence chipsets.
This news comes at an interesting time for Altman who was fired from the company in November last year, only to be re-appointed later that same month, and it appears that he was working on the chip project before his dismissal.
According to sources, Altman is concerned that as AI becomes more pervasive, there simply won’t be enough chips for widespread deployment – in fact some forecasts suggest production of AI-related chips will fall short of projected demand.
The demand for AI applications has surged over the past 18 months and Altman is said to believe that the industry needs to act now to ensure there’s sufficient supply near the end of the decade.
It won’t come cheap but building new capacity may prove to be a sensible decision on his part.
