The need for more and faster artificial intelligence (AI) chips will only continue in the coming years says both OpenAI's Sam Altman and Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger after their on-stage conversation on Intel's Foundry Event in San Jose, California.
In essence, Altman reportedly believes that the world will need a lot more chips for AI while adding that the world will need to spend globally in a lot of things that go beyond what is currently being considered.
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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 16: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman looks on during the APEC CEO Summit at Moscone West on November 16, 2023 in San Francisco, California. The APEC summit is being held in San Francisco and runs through November 17
Altman also comments that the world is still lacking in "numbers" stressing the significance of building on the AI momentum of the previous year to promote a technology he believes will lead to a brighter future for humanity.
Intel's Gelsinger echoed Altman's comments in that he claims that for a number of years to come, the total need for AI processors seems to be endless. An unsurprising comment knowing that since taking over, Gelsinger has reportedly already forced Intel to go into the business of producing chips for other companies.
As part of this development, the company has committed $20 billion to constructing new plants in Ohio, which will be used as so-called "foundries" for other companies.
Soaring AI Chip Demand
At the conference on Wednesday, Gelsinger projected that, primarily due to the need for AI chips, Intel would be managing the second-largest foundry company in the world by 2030, likely trailing only Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TMSC, the industry leader at the moment.
Additionally, Intel is trying to get a share of the $52 billion that the U.S. Based on last year's global sales, the Commerce Department intends to disperse in an attempt to boost the nation's production capacity in the $527 billion processor market.
Both CEO's comment only confirm the reality of the AI boom, most especially after the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index, which measures the performance of the top 30 US chip companies, has reportedly increased by more than 50% in the past year as a result of investors' bets on the sustained high demand for the AI processors that underpin ChatGPT and other apps from OpenAI.
Top AI Chipmaker
Altman and Balsingers comments also come after the leading AI chipmaker, Nvidia, reported that compared to the same quarter last year, its revenues had climbed by 265% to $22.1 billion.
Anticipating sales for the current quarter, Nvidia anticipates $24 billion, more than four times the amount from the same period last year and more than the $22 billion average estimate made by experts.
Despite this eye-popping gain however, the ravenous demand for AI processors among Big Tech corporations and start-ups like Anthropic and OpenAI has benefited just a select few companies. While the majority of other chipmakers struggle with piled-up inventory and sluggish client demand across a range of industries, Nvidia and its suppliers, notably TSMC and Supermicro, have reaped disproportionate benefits.
