Sam Altman in talks with TSMC to launch AI chip plant: Report

San Francisco, Jan 21: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is reportedly in touch with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to launch an AI chip fabrication plant.

According to The Financial Times, Altman, who aims to raise billions of dollars from global investors for a chip plant, is also talking with the Taiwanese giant TSMC.

Both OpenAI and TSMC did not comment on the story.

Altman is also reportedly in talks with one of the wealthiest persons in Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, for the semiconductor plant.

Sheikh Tahnoon is brother of Gulf state’s president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, for whom he is national security adviser.

He also oversees the $800 billion Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and ADQ, another state investment entity, according to the report.

It is, however, not clear how much Altman is seeking to raise for his new venture.

Bloomberg first reported that Altman was in talks over a chip venture with Middle-Eastern investors.

TSMC has chips in Apple’s laptops and phones, along with many ARM and AMD devices.

Meanwhile, Tang Tan, Apple’s VP of iPhone design, is reportedly joining legendary designer Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Altman and working on a new AI hardware project.

Reports surfaced in November last year that Altman was planning to launch a new AI venture.

OpenAI once had a robotics research division but it was disbanded in July 2021 after encountering technical roadblocks.