Sam Altman is personally pitching OpenAI traders on backing an upstart challenger to chipmaking big Nvidia — whilst Nvidia reportedly ramps up its enterprise ties with Elon Musk, The Publish has discovered.
The OpenAI CEO is selling an upcoming $150 million second spherical of financing that values Rain AI — a fledgling producer of high-performance semiconductors — at roughly $600 million, in accordance with a supply with direct data of the scenario.
Altman was a significant investor in Rain AI’s 2022 $25 million seed spherical, sources stated.
The most recent spherical is anticipated to start subsequent month, the supply stated.
“He has introduced the company to all his investors for this series B round,” the supply stated of Altman.
Rain AI says its chips are way more power environment friendly and highly effective than Nvidia’s, sources stated.
In June, the corporate employed former Apple chip government Jean-Didier Allegrucci as head of {hardware} engineering.
OpenAI declined to remark.
A Rain AI spokesman didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Altman is pushing Rain AI at a time his rival Elon Musk is talking to Nvidia about investing in his xAI, The Publish reported solely earlier this month.
Nvidia has a staggering 85% market share within the synthetic intelligence chip house and has turn out to be probably the most beneficial firm on this planet with a $3.5 trillion market cap.
It’s anticipated to proceed to promote its chips to Open AI even when it invests with Musk.
Nonetheless, insiders speculated that Altman has grown involved that Nvidia’s relationship with Musk is getting too cozy.
Musk is anticipating to quickly spend billions to purchase 100,000 Nvidia chips, CNBC reported.
“Rain AI is one of the legitimate players at the table when it comes to the future of AI and chips,” Wedbush Analyst Dan Ives advised The Publish.
“There’s a lot of buzz around everything Rain AI is doing and it’s the early days of the AI revolution.,” Ives added. “There’s going to be many players, not just the ‘Godfather of AI’ Jensen Huang and Nvidia.”
“When you have someone like Altman backing [them] that puts them right in the middle of Times Square with a spotlight on them,” he stated.
“Any company [Altman] backs is a huge vote of confidence and gives them a massive runway to where they can head.”
