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Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI and creator of ChatGPT, is a man in a hurry. The entrepreneur is managing the largest fundraising in history for a pharaonic project. According to the Wall Street Journal, the leader wants to recover between 5 and 7 trillion dollars to increase the production of electronic chips globally and supply the products of OpenAI AI.
An extraordinary project
This sum is difficult for ordinary mortals to grasp. For comparison, this represents a little less than triple the French annual GDP, and more than the stock market valuation of Apple and Microsoft combined.
In the semiconductor industry, this would also represent a change of trajectory. Thus, this market represented 527 billion dollars globally in 2023, and forecasts predict 1000 billion by 2030.
If such a project were to see the light of day, Sam Altman's idea is to initiate a partnership between investors, manufacturers and electricity suppliers. The latter would jointly launch dozens of new foundries which would be managed by the current major players in the industry. OpenAI, but also undoubtedly other Tech giants, would then obtain these parts for the development of their AI.
Carrying out such an initiative is anything but easy for the business leader. He is therefore in the process of establishing numerous contacts between donors, future industrial partners and governments, specifies the American newspaper.
The company led by Sam Altman does not has not hidden this ambition from our colleagues. It states: “OpenAI had productive discussions on increasing global infrastructure and supply chains for chips, technology’ 8217;energy and data centers, which are crucial for AI and other industries that depend on it”.
A dangerous initiative for the climate ?
The United Arab Emirates are among the privileged interlocutors of the creator of ChatGPT. The latter also spoke with the CEO of SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, and even TSMC, the very powerful semiconductor manufacturer.
It will be very interesting to follow this project which is still very far from being realized. If he succeeds, Sam Altman will in any case cause a real earthquake in the world of Tech. His idea is not without raising many questions in terms of sustainability. Indeed, electronic chips are known to be very polluting, and are already being singled out for their climate impact, as we spoke to you about previously.
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