OpenAI And Intel's Vision: The Demand For AI Chips Will Be 'Insatiable'

At the Intel Foundry Direct Connect event held in San Jose, California, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had an onstage conversation, highlighting the robust demand for semiconductors in the future of artificial intelligence.

Since the launch of the acclaimed AI innovation product, ChatGPT, at the end of 2022, OpenAI has clearly become one of the most dazzling star companies in the global tech industry.

However, Sam Altman apparently does not wish to stop there: recent media reports in the US have suggested that he is trying to raise as much as $7 trillion--higher than the total market value of Microsoft and Apple--to support a semiconductor plan for the company and compete with Nvidia.

In the conversation between Gelsinger and Altman, Gelsinger directly asked Altman about this, but Altman dodged the question without giving a direct answer, only stating: The kernel of truth is we think the world is going to need a lot more (chips for) AI compute. That is going to require a global investment in a lot of stuff beyond what we are thinking of. We are not in a place where we have numbers yet.

He also commented that AI computation is more similar to a form of energy, with a certain amount of demand at a certain price and less demand at a higher price.

Altman underscored the importance of accelerating the momentum of AI development. He believes that AI technology will bring a better future for mankind, though he also admits there would be disadvantages during the process.

Altman noted: We are heading to a world where more content is going to be generated by AI than content generated by humans, Altman said. This is not going to be only a good story, but it's going to be a net good story.

On the day of the event's release, Nvidia just launched its tremendously robust Q4 financial report. The report demonstrated that the company's revenue, profit, and guidance for the next fiscal quarter greatly exceeded market expectations, pushing the company's stock price up more than 9% after hours.

As a U.S. chip giant, Intel has been struggling in recent years, especially being left behind by Nvidia in the recent wave of the AI revolution. During the full-day conference, Intel revealed its plan to catch up with Nvidia. Gelsinger affirmed that he will harness the market's frenzied demand for AI chips to reclaim Intel's market leadership in what he describes as the wave of the Siliconomy.

It's just magic the way these tiny chips are enabling the modern economic cycle we are in today, Gelsinger said.

Since he took office, Gelsinger has been driving the company into the chip contract manufacturing business and pledged to invest $20 billion in building a new factory in Ohio as part of its expansion into the contract manufacturing sector.

Gelsinger estimated that by 2030, Intel will primarily satisfy the demand for AI chips and make its contract manufacturing business the second-largest globally, perhaps only second to the current contract manufacturing leader, TSMC.

There's sort of a space race going on, Gelsinger said, The overall demand (for AI chips) appears to be insatiable for several years into the future.