OpenAI has had enough of chip shortages in the market. It is considering making its own
OpenAI, the company behind the artificial intelligence ChatGPT, is considering creating its own AI chips - reports Reuters, citing its unofficial findings. Towards this end, it's even contemplating the potential acquisition of one of the microprocessor manufacturing companies.
1:17 PM EDT, October 6, 2023
The agency's findings indicate that the company has not yet decided on specific steps in this direction. However, at least since last year, its representatives have been discussing at internal meetings what possibilities OpenAI has in terms of solving the shortages of expensive AI chips, on which the company is based.
Three scenarios on the table
Reuters lists three scenarios considered by OpenAI. They are:
- development of own chips,
- closer collaboration with manufacturers (including Nvidia),
- diversification of suppliers beyond Nvidia.
The agency asked OpenAI for a comment, but the company refused.
Huge costs of AI
Since 2020, OpenAI has been developing its artificial intelligence with the help of a supercomputer built by Microsoft, which is one of the company's largest sponsors. It uses approximately 10,000 Nvidia graphic processors.
Operating ChatGPT and its development, however, is very expensive. According to Stacy Rasgon's analysis, an analyst at Bernstein, it suggests that each question users ask the AI costs 4 cents. If the scale of questions sent to the AI were to rise to one-tenth of the queries inputted by internet users into Google's search engine, it would require tens of billions of dollars annually from the company to maintain the operation of ChatGPT.
Hence the idea to produce chips themselves. This would involve the acquisition of one of the companies in this sector. It is uncertain who OpenAI considered purchasing. However, as experts pointed out in a conversation with Reuters, this would not guarantee success. The cost of such a takeover could reach hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
