According to Cointelegraph, OpenAI, the company behind artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT, is reportedly considering manufacturing processing chips in-house due to the ongoing global shortage of the expensive and difficult-to-produce hardware. An October 5 Reuters report cited sources familiar with the matter, stating that OpenAI has evaluated an unnamed company as a potential acquisition target to assist with its AI chip-making ambitions. However, the company has not yet decided whether to proceed with the acquisition.
OpenAI has also been discussing various other options to address the current chip shortage, including working more closely with its primary chip supplier NVIDIA and diversifying its chip suppliers beyond its current providers. Earlier this year, OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman expressed frustration over chip shortages delaying the company's progress, according to a now-deleted blog post by Raza Habib, CEO of AI firm Humanloop.
If OpenAI decides to manufacture its own chips, it would join a small group of tech industry giants, such as Google and Amazon, that have moved chip production in-house. Since the public launch of ChatGPT in November last year, the demand for specialized AI chips has significantly increased, leading to a surge in NVIDIA's share price as companies scramble to purchase the costly computing hardware. OpenAI has not yet responded to Cointelegraph's request for comment.
