SAM ALTMAN IS ATTEMPTING TO RAISE TRILLIONS TO SUPERCHARGE AI CHIPMAKING

Sam Altman, the co-founder, CEO, and public face of OpenAI, is looking to raise trillions of dollars to reshape the global semiconductor industry in AI's image, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The former Y Combinator head is looking to raise between $5 trillion and $7 trillion, according to the report.

Altman, who is nothing if not ambitious, has said that OpenAI's ability to create artificial general intelligence that's as smart as or smarter than most humans is entirely dependent on the company's access to high-power semiconductor chips. Companies such as Nvidia, which previously were mainly in the business of producing chips to power high-level computer graphics cards, have seen their valuations skyrocket as AI companies hoard the chips in order to train their advanced models. 

The problem? There aren't currently enough chips in the world to bring Altman's plans to fruition. To solve this, Altman is proposing a solution that would see OpenAI partner with investors, chipmakers, and power providers to build dozens of massive chip foundries. The Journal reports that Altman would prefer to build these facilities in the United States. 

Fundraising that reaches into trillions of dollars is unheard of. Several U.S. startups have raised capital in the billions, including SpaceX ($9.4 billion) and Airbnb (nearly $5 billion). To imagine what a trillion dollars amounts to in construction projects, that's four International Space Stations (at $230 billion each), plus one California High-Speed Rail (an estimated $100 billion). Multiply that by five to seven, and you'll get some sense of the scale of Altman's apparent plan. 

The unprecedented funding goal is significantly larger than the global semiconductor industry itself. Global sales of chips hit $527 billion last year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, and are expected to rise to $1 trillion annually by 2030, according to McKinsey.

While the full list of potential investors and partners isn't known, the Journal reports that Altman has met with the United Arab Emirates' Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan about the initiative, as well as SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, and representatives from chip-fabrication companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.