OpenAI Set to Finalize First Custom Chip Design This Year

The ChatGPT maker is pushing ahead with its plan to cut reliance on Nvidia for chip supply

- Reuters

OpenAI is pushing ahead on its plan to reduce its reliance on Nvidia for its chip supply by developing its first generation of in-house artificial intelligence (AI) silicon.

The ChatGPT maker is finalizing the design for its first in-house chip in the next few months and plans to send it for fabrication at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), sources told Reuters. The process of sending a first design through a chip factory is called "taping out."

OpenAI and TSMC declined to comment.

The update shows that OpenAI is on track to meet its ambitious goal of mass production at TSMC in 2026. A typical tape-out costs tens of millions of dollars and will take roughly six months to produce a finished chip, unless OpenAI pays substantially more for expedited manufacturing.

There is no guarantee the silicon will function on the first tape-out and a failure would require the company to diagnose the problem and repeat the tape-out step.

Inside OpenAI, the training-focused chip is viewed as a strategic tool to strengthen OpenAI's negotiating leverage with other chip suppliers, the sources said.