- Big tech is tired of relying on Nvidia, so they’re making their own chips
- OpenAI’s first AI GPU is nearly ready, heading to TSMC for tape-out
- If all goes well, mass-production could begin by 2026
Rising costs and a worrying reliance on AI behemoth Nvidia have led tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, and Meta to look at building their own artificial intelligence chips.
OpenAI, which is involved in the recently-announced $500 billion Stargate initiative, is also reportedly developing its own AI hardware to give it some freedom from Team Green.
A report from Reuters claims the company is in the final stages of producing this first chip – which could have cost OpenAI upwards of $500 million to design – and expects to send it for fabrication at TSMC in the coming months, with mass production likely to begin in 2026.
Deployed on a limited scale
OpenAI’s chip development has been ongoing for a while. We first reported in July 2024 that Sam Altman’s company was in discussions with Broadcom to design and build its own silicon and, more recently, that the AI firm was edging closer to this becoming a reality.
The report claims, “If the initial tape-out goes smoothly, it would enable the ChatGPT maker to mass-produce its first in-house AI chip and potentially test an alternative to Nvidia’s chips later this year. OpenAI’s plan to send its design to TSMC this year demonstrates the startup has made speedy progress on its first design, a process that can take other chip designers years longer.”
Led by Richard Ho, who joined OpenAI over a year ago and previously played a key role in developing Google’s own custom AI processors, the team developing the chip is reportedly relatively small, consisting of just 40 engineers.
While the in-house AI chip will be capable of both training and inference tasks, Reuters’ sources say that it will initially be “deployed on a limited scale, and primarily for running AI models.” It will also have a limited role within the company’s infrastructure. According to the news outlet, OpenAI views its custom AI chip as a way of improving its negotiating position with existing suppliers, including Nvidia.
The chip is being produced using TSMC’s advanced 3-nanometer process and will feature a commonly used systolic array architecture, HBM, and advanced networking capabilities.
OpenAI and TSMC declined to comment on the report.
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waynewilliams@onmail.com (Wayne Williams)
