ChatGPT-Owner OpenAI Exploring Development of Its Own Chips-SEO

OpenAI, a leading AI developer, is considering developing its own AI chips or acquiring an existing chip company to cope with the high costs and limited availability of Nvidia’s GPUs and other processors for AI applications.

Highlights

• OpenAI is exploring the development of its own AI chips.
• Acquisition of more AI chips is a top priority for the company.
• It could take several years for OpenAI to begin the chip development process.

Chat-GPT-owner OpenAI, a leading artificial intelligence (AI) developer, is considering developing its own AI chips to cope with the high costs and limited availability of Nvidia’s GPUs and other processors for AI applications, according to Reuters. The organization depends on these chips to train and run its large language model.

Open AI is also exploring potential acquisitions to acquire the necessary IP and accelerate the development process. “CEO Sam Altman has made the acquisition of more AI chips a top priority for the company,” said Reuters. “Altman has publicly complained about the scarcity of graphics processing units, a market dominated by Nvidia, which controls more than 80% of the global market for the chips best suited to run AI applications.”

Developing a custom chip would be a major strategic shift for OpenAI and require significant investment. It could also take several years for OpenAI to create its own AI processors, making the organization dependent on major chip makers, such as Nvidia, Intel, and AMD in the near future. While buying an existing chip company could be easier and faster, as there are many AI hardware startups in the market, there is no guarantee of success.

If OpenAI does move forward with plans to develop its own AI processing chips, then the organization would join other tech giants, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, and Tesla, that have developed their own chips for their services. However, custom processor development is not without challenges.

The operating costs for ChatGPT alone are enormous; if it scales up to even a tenth of Google search’s size, the initial cost for GPUs would be around $48.1 billion and then $16 billion annually, reported Reuters.

Microsoft, an OpenAI supporter, is also reportedly developing its own AI processor. This could indicate a possible change in the relationship between the two parties. OpenAI currently powers Bing Chat, a feature for Bing’s search engine that lets you talk to its AI chatbot rather than fill out search queries. Alternatively, OpenAI could use Microsoft’s hardware and vice versa.

Regardless of what happens in the near future with OpenAI and creating its own processing chips, the launch of ChatGPT last year has increased the demand for specialized AI chips, which are essential to train and run the advanced generative AI technology. Nvidia is one of the few chipmakers that offers effective AI chips and has a dominant position in the market which may be tough to compete against.

Summary

OpenAI is considering developing its own AI chips or acquiring an existing chip company to cope with the high costs and limited availability of Nvidia’s GPUs and other processors for AI applications. Developing a custom chip would be a major strategic shift for OpenAI and require significant investment. If the organization does go this route, it could take several years before AI chip production can begin.