Sam Altman has taken a new ticket to enter the “Hall of Fame” of Silicon Valley, this pantheon of high technology where Steve Jobs (Apple), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Elon Musk already sit. (Tesla, SpaceX). After distinguishing himself, at the end of 2022, by releasing the ChatGPT conversational robot, the founding boss of OpenAI wants to reconfigure the global semiconductor industry and raise colossal sums to do so, reveals the Wall Street Journal from February 8.
The business daily estimates the capital required between 5,000 and 7,000 billion dollars (6,500 billion euros), 1,000 billion more than the addition of the two largest capitalizations in the world, Apple and Microsoft. A financial mobilization far beyond the capacities of the richest funds and incommensurate with current efforts, which already amount to a few hundred billion.
Debt can, according to him, meet his pharaonic ambition: build dozens of microprocessor factories around the world to develop a generative AI sector lacking these essential components, as illustrated by the difficulties of the American Nvidia or Taiwanese TSMC to meet demand in a market which, based on current forecasts, will increase from 527 billion dollars to 1,000 billion in 2030. Large quantities of carbon-free electricity will also be required, in particular nuclear origin, according to Sam Altman.
The tour of the meals
The entrepreneur toured the best-stocked kitchens and some world-class manufacturers: the United Arab Emirates, launched in the technology race since the 2000s; the Japanese SoftBank, a major investor in tech; TSMC, manufacturer of the most powerful chips. And even more. “Productive discussions around the development of global infrastructure and supply chains for chips, energy and data centers”summarized an OpenAI spokesperson.
In the lineage of visionary American entrepreneurs born with Thomas Edison at the end of the 19th centurye century, Sam Altman speaks of AI, capable of producing texts, images and sounds, as a revolution poised to disrupt the course of humanity. But it still has to overcome considerable obstacles, including the investment wall and the location of sites. The most difficult to overcome, undoubtedly. The sovereignty issue is such that he spoke about it to the Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo: Washington is doing everything to ensure that the most sophisticated chips do not fuel China’s technological and military efforts.