CNBC is reporting that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is seeking a massive investment – potentially up to $7 trillion – to fund a new project aimed at expanding the global semiconductor industry's capacity to produce AI chips.
This initiative is seen as a response to the current supply-and-demand problem in the AI chip market, where the demand from AI companies (including OpenAI) far exceeds the available supply. The scarcity of AI chips is a bottleneck that limits the growth of these companies, which rely on these chips to train large language models (like ChatGPT).
I'm not sure how Sam came up with the $7 trillion number. It's more money than the market capitalizations of the world's largest tech companies combined. That said, chip-making is extremely capital intensive – and AI is a super-chip-hungry business – so let's see if there's a new, safe, awesome, $7 trillion supply chain in our future.
As always, your thoughts and comments are both welcome and encouraged. Just reply to this email. -s
ABOUT SHELLY PALMER
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.
