Home / Technology
Sam Altman to secure billions for OpenAI’s expansion
Altman has met with top executives from major tech suppliers in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is on an ambitious global fundraising and partnership tour across East Asia and the Middle East, seeking new financing and manufacturing deals to support the company’s massive infrastructure expansion.
According to The Wall Street Journal, since late September, Altman has met with top executives from major tech suppliers in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, including TSMC, Foxconn, Samsung, and SK Hynix, urging them to boost AI chip production and prioritise OpenAI’s growing hardware demands.
The company’s explosive growth has led to an unprecedented need for computing power, fueling Altman’s push for long-term supply partnerships.
Sources familiar with the meetings said Altman wants these firms to scale up production capacity and secure OpenAI’s position at the top of the order lists for high-performance chips.
Earlier this week, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix reportedly signed letters of intent to supply memory chips for OpenAI’s expanding data centres.
Following his meetings in Asia, Altman is expected to visit investors in the United Arab Emirates to raise additional funds aimed at bolstering OpenAI’s research and global infrastructure.
The company recently informed investors that it expects to spend around $16 billion this year on renting computing servers, a figure projected to soar to $400 billion by 2029, underscoring the scale of OpenAI’s ambitions and its dependence on advanced semiconductor supply chains.