Sam Altman Explores Launching Company To Build Data Centers For OpenAI

OpenAI founder Sam Altman is considering a plan to self-develop data centers for the firm, part of an initiative for the ChatGPT maker to create its own AI chips.

Altman has told tech industry executives he intends to establish one or more companies that will use outside capital to acquire land and power and fund the construction of new data centers for OpenAI, The Information reports. OpenAI would rent the servers housed in those data centers, according to the report.

The potential data center build-out is part of an effort spearheaded by Altman for OpenAI or affiliated entities to develop and design proprietary artificial intelligence chips. OpenAI gets the bulk of its chips from Nvidia, but the firm is reportedly in talks with chip designers like Broadcom about the possibility of producing its own. The planned data centers would host infrastructure powered by these chips.

OpenAI would follow Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta in using proprietary silicon at its data centers.

Altman has been building relationships with private equity firms and other potential sources of capital that could back the data center and chip effort, The Information reported, naming SoftBank, sovereign wealth funds based in the United Arab Emirates and large private equity firms among potential investors. Altman reportedly plans to unveil the infrastructure initiative later this year. 

OpenAI primarily utilizes Microsoft’s data center infrastructure, part of a wide-ranging partnership between the two firms. Oracle has also collaborated with Microsoft to provide OpenAI with one of the most powerful computing clusters in the world by next year. 

This isn't the first time OpenAI has been rumored to be directly involved with a potential data center project. OpenAI and Microsoft were considering a massive data center with a $100B price tag that OpenAI employees referred to as “Stargate,” according to March reports. 

Altman has also invested heavily in companies developing energy solutions to power AI data centers. He has put large chunks of personal capital into nuclear fusion startup Helion Energy and has backed microreactor firm Oklo. In April, he was among a group of investors putting $20M into Exowatt, a firm focused on providing solar and energy storage solutions for data centers.