OpenAI is reportedly planning to manufacture its first custom artificial intelligence (AI) chipset this year. As per the report, the San Francisco-based AI firm has begun the design process internally and is on track to complete the design of the processor in the next few months. The company’s main reason to fabricate custom AI chipsets is said to reduce reliance on Nvidia and to strengthen its negotiation with other chip suppliers. Notably, a recent trademark filing by OpenAI revealed that the company is planning to manufacture a wide range of hardware, including chipsets.
OpenAI’s Chipset
According to a Reuters report, OpenAI is currently finalising the design for the in-house chipset and is expected to finish up the process in the next few months. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the publication said the AI firm will then reportedly tape out (the process of sending the first design through a chip factory) the chipset at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
TSMC will reportedly handle the fabrication process for OpenAI. The proposed chipset is said to be a 3-nanometer process technology featuring systolic array architecture with high-bandwidth memory (HBM), and extensive networking capabilities. Notably, HBM-based design is also used in Nvidia’s chipsets.
OpenAI reportedly believes that building its own chipsets will give it a strategic advantage over other chipset suppliers when negotiating a deal. It is also said to reduce the company’s reliance on Nvidia, whose chips it has been extensively using. The publication stated that the AI firm plans to develop “increasingly advanced processors with broader capabilities” with future iterations of the chipset.
Citing the sources, Reuters claimed that the chipset is being designed by the AI firm’s in-house team led by Richard Ho, the head of hardware at OpenAI. Interestingly, Ho has previously worked at Lightmatter and Google and specialises in semiconductor engineering. The team under Ho has reportedly doubled in the past months and now contains 40 employees.
Notably, the report claims that OpenAI’s first chipset will initially be used on a limited scale, with the primary function being running some of the company’s AI models. It is said to have a limited role in the company’s infrastructure currently, but it can increase in the future. Ultimately, the AI firm intends to use the chips for both inference as well as training AI models.
