This year Nvidia chips have become the center of attention of the main technology companies focused on artificial intelligence. Now, there has been a problematic trend that is still in force: There is a huge shortage of AI chips.
An undoubtedly critical situation for many Silicon Valley companies, but it seems that it will soon come to an end.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, It is clear that the “brutal” chip shortage could subside next yearas reported by Business Insider.
The reason for this shortage? Altman is clear that this is because the chips needed to create tools like ChatGPT are very expensive, but this could change in 2024.
The reason? The entry of new companies that can offer alternatives to Nvidia’s popular $40,000 H100 processor. Logically, it is not known the price or features that these chips from new companies would have, but as there are more purchasing options, Nvidia could reduce the price of its chips, for example.
Companies like OpenAI, which have been at the forefront of the generative AI boom this year, have relied on Nvidia for cutting-edge processors, known as GPUs, that provide the computing power needed for applications like ChatGPT to run effectively.
OpenAI has managed to obtain these chips because it has had the financial backing of Microsoft, which at the beginning of the year made a multi-million dollar bet on the ChatGPT manufacturer, to secure the expensive GPUs.
Nvidia’s success in selling processors to AI companies has been so great this year that the company has become a member from a select group in Silicon Valley with a market capitalization that exceeds one trillion dollars.
The chip giant reportedly set a production target of 500,000 GPUs in 2023, but It aims to triple production to reach at least 1.5 million units in 2024.
In the interview, Altman points out: “The magic of capitalism is doing its thing” and “many people would like to be Nvidia now.” Among the companies that want to compete with Nvidia are heavyweights such as Google and Microsoft, as well as chip specialist AMD.
Although Nvidia has played a huge role in accelerating the AI boom this year, its CEO, Jensen Huang, has remained cautious.
At an event organized by The Harvard Business Review last week, Huang made it clear: “There are no companies that are guaranteed survival.”
