Openai, the developer of Chatgpt, is considering ways to overcome the shortage of chips needed to power its artificial intelligence (AI) product. One of the options that’s being discussed in the company, according to a recent media report, is to build its own powerful processor.
Openai Reportedly Exploring Making In-house AI Chips to Deal With GPU Deficit
AI research lab Openai is mulling over the idea to make its own processors, or AI accelerators, amid persisting shortage of the expensive hardware that it needs. Demand for specialized chips has soared since last year’s launch of its AI-based chatbot.
A number of options have been discussed to solve the issue, among which acquiring a chip company and working more closely with chipmakers, not just the market leader Nvidia but other suppliers as well, knowledgeable source have told Reuters.
Openai CEO Sam Altman, who has previously expressed concerns over the scarcity of graphics processing units (GPUs) and the associated costs, has made the acquisition of more AI chips a top priority for the firm, the people familiar with the matter revealed.
But even if Openai decides to go ahead with the plan to develop a chip, which it hasn’t done yet, it will most likely remain dependent for several years on other providers like Nvidia, which controls 80% of the supply of processors for AI applications.
Openai’s generative artificial intelligence technology relies on a supercomputer which uses 10,000 of Nvidia’s GPUs and has been constructed by one of its main backers, Microsoft. Running the AI assistant is very expensive, with each query costing around $0.04, the report notes.
If Openai moves to create its own AI chips, this would place it among the few tech giants that have attempted to do so. In that club are Google and Amazon which have sought to take control over designing the chips that play a key role for their businesses.
Facebook owner Meta, which recently launched an AI assistant, too, has been trying to build its own processor but due to issues with its development has scrapped some of the prototypes. The company is now working on a newer model.
Software giant Microsoft, which has put its weight behind Openai’s chatbot project, is also developing a custom AI chip that’s being tested by the Chatgpt maker, according to a report by the tech-focused publication The Information.
