Sam Altman Attempting to Raise Trillions to Supercharge AI ChipmakingOpenAI's CEO is already meeting with potential investors and chipmaking partners around the world in an attempt to reshape the global semiconductor industry, according to a report.

  In a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, it has been revealed that Sam Altman, the CEO and co-founder of OpenAI, is aiming to secure an unprecedented amount of funding, between $5 and $7 trillion, to revolutionize the global semiconductor industry to cater to AI's requirements. Altman has stressed that OpenAI's ability to develop artificial general intelligence hinges on their access to high-power semiconductor chips. However, the current scarcity of these chips presents a significant obstacle. To address this, Altman is proposing a partnership between OpenAI, investors, chip manufacturers, and power providers to establish numerous large-scale chip foundries, with a preference for locating them in the United States. 

It's worth noting that this fundraising goal far exceeds any previous targets in the tech industry. Notably, SpaceX has raised $9.4 billion, while Airbnb has secured nearly $5 billion in capital. To put the scale of Altman's plan into perspective, a trillion dollars could fund four International Space Stations (each costing $230 billion) and a California High-Speed Rail (estimated at $100 billion) combined. The goal also surpasses the current size of the global semiconductor industry, which recorded sales of $527 billion last year and is projected to reach $1 trillion annually by 2030.

Although the full roster of potential investors and partners remains unknown, reports indicate that Altman has engaged with influential figures such as Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, Masayoshi Son of SoftBank, and representatives from chip-fabrication companies including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.