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Too ambitious for his own good: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been on a quest over the past year to secure trillions of dollars for an ambitious plan – building vast new computing infrastructure to power the next generation of artificial intelligence. However, one of Altman's proposals was reportedly so outlandish that executives at TSMC mockingly referred to him as a "podcasting bro," according to sources.
The 39-year-old Altman has quickly become one of the world's most influential figures in AI. The New York Times recently highlighted how he has been on a global tour since last year, meeting with investors in the United Arab Emirates as well as Asian chipmakers and US officials to propose a multi-trillion-dollar project aimed at building chip fabs and data centers dedicated to advancing AI systems.
Many were taken aback by the sheer scale of his vision, which seeks investment equivalent to roughly a quarter of the United States' annual GDP. Despite this, Altman secured high-level meetings from the Middle East to Washington D.C.
One of his initial proposals involved the UAE funding several $43 billion chip factories to reduce costs for companies like TSMC and Nvidia, enabling them to significantly ramp up the production of AI chips for new data centers.
However, when Altman visited TSMC's Taiwan headquarters early in his fundraising tour, he shocked the executives by claiming that it would take $7 trillion and several years to build the 36 fabs and data centers he envisioned. According to The New York Times, one executive said the idea was so "absurd" that they dismissed Altman as just a "podcasting bro."
In the spring, Altman and his team met with Japanese officials in Tokyo, proposing a bold plan: to repurpose decommissioned nuclear plants from the Fukushima disaster to provide a staggering five gigawatts of power for new AI data centers – about 1,000 times the energy consumption of an average facility. According to reports, the idea was once again met with laughter.
Another report from The Wall Street Journal noted that Altman was so busy pitching his vision globally that some current and former staffers complained he had "checked out" of OpenAI's day-to-day operations, leading to rushed product releases and lax safety testing.
Amid growing skepticism, Altman has been forced to scale back his ambitions to "hundreds of billions" of dollars.
There are also national security concerns about giving the UAE a prominent role in developing sensitive AI infrastructure, which could have economic and military implications. Some US officials feared this might give China a backdoor to the technology.
In response, Altman has pivoted toward focusing on building data center capacity within the US. Earlier this month, he presented a study titled "Infrastructure Is Destiny" to officials at a White House meeting. The study outlined plans for $100 billion facilities that could house two million AI chips and consume five gigawatts of power each.
All these efforts are part of Altman's quest to make AI computing power as ubiquitous as electricity. According to those familiar with his private comments, Altman believes that just as widespread access to electricity spurred new innovations, building significantly more data centers will make AI technologies easier to use and more accessible.
A major driver behind this ambition is OpenAI's staggering expenses. While the company has generated more than $3 billion in revenue from products like ChatGPT, it spends approximately $7 billion annually due to the immense computing power required to train large language models. According to The New York Times, OpenAI is also seeking to raise $6.5 billion in new funding, pushing its valuation beyond $150 billion.