(Bloomberg) — In the weeks leading up to his shocking ouster from OpenAI, Sam Altman was actively working to raise billions from some of the world’s largest investors for a new chip venture, according to people familiar with the matter. Most Read from BloombergOpenAI Board Urged by Microsoft, Investors to Restore AltmanOpenAI Leaders’ Efforts to Bring Back Altman Reach Impasse Over Board RoleAltman Sought Billions For Chip Venture Before OpenAI OusterSpaceX Starship Explodes Though Craft Reache
In the weeks leading up to his shocking ouster from OpenAI, Sam Altman was actively working to raise billions from some of the world’s largest investors for a new chip venture, according to people familiar with the matter.
Altman had been traveling to the Middle East to fundraise for the project, which was code-named Tigris, the people said. The OpenAI chief executive officer planned to spin up an AI-focused chip company that could produce semiconductors that compete against those from Nvidia Corp., which currently dominates the market for artificial intelligence tasks. Altman’s chip venture is not yet formed and the talks with investors are in the early stages, said the people, who asked not to be named as the discussions were private.
Altman has also been looking to raise money for an AI-focused hardware device that he’s been developing in tandem with former Apple Inc. design chief Jony Ive. Altman has had talks about these ventures with SoftBank Group Corp., Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Mubadala Investment Company and others, as he sought tens of billions of dollars for these new companies, the people said.
Many details of the scale and focus of Altman’s chip ambitions as well as the project’s codename have not been previously reported.
