OpenAI, the company behind the viral AI chatbot, ChatGPT, is considering developing its own artificial intelligence processors, Reuters reported on Friday.
According to reports, the company has evaluated a potential acquisition target, it has not yet made a decision. However, it has been talking about solutions to the pricey AI chip scarcity that OpenAI is facing at least since last year.
These choices include developing its own AI processor, collaborating more closely with other chipmakers, such as Nvidia, and expanding its supplier base outside Nvidia.
The company’s primary aim, according to CEO Sam Altman, is to buy more AI chips. He has openly bemoaned the lack of graphics processing units, a market that Nvidia dominates with more than 80% of the global market share.
The drive to obtain more chips is related to two key issues that Altman has identified: a lack of the cutting-edge processors needed to power OpenAI’s software and the “eye-watering” costs of maintaining the hardware required to support its initiatives and products.
Since 2020, Microsoft, one of OpenAI’s biggest investors, has built a gigantic supercomputer using 10,000 Nvidia graphics processing units on which the company has been developing its generative artificial intelligence technology.
