According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is attempting to gather billions of dollars from investors, including the government of the United Arab Emirates, in order to increase the world’s capacity to build cutting-edge semiconductors and fuel artificial intelligence.
According to sources familiar with the situation, Altman’s “wildly ambitious tech initiative” would need to raise up to $7 trillion. This was reported in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
According to the Journal, as part of his pitch to investors, Altman has suggested constructing dozens of semiconductor foundries, which would thereafter be managed by already-established chip manufacturers like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
The WSJ described the amounts being sought as “outlandishly large by the standards of corporate fundraising,” and stated that the plans aim to tackle challenges to OpenAI’s expansion, including a lack of processors that run AI models such as ChatGPT.
According to the source, Altamn has met with US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, TSMC executives, senior UAE officials, and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son thus far as part of his preparations.
Even while many nations have made efforts to encourage domestic semiconductor production, a few companies—such as California-based NVIDIA and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)—continue to control the majority of the worldwide supply.
The Wall Street Journal cited an OpenAI representative as saying that the company has had “productive discussions about increasing global infrastructure and supply chains” and that further information would be provided at a later time.
Microsoft-backed OpenAI did not immediately respond to an email from Al Jazeera seeking comment.
As the leader of OpenAI, Altman has emerged as one of the most recognizable figures in the rapidly developing AI industry.
The 38-year-old businessman was fired in November from the startup he co-founded, but following complaints from staff and investors, he was brought back a few days later.
