The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI is in talks for a new round of funding, with tech giants Apple and NVIDIA both interested in investing in the AI research company OpenAI.

It’s reported that this investment will be part of OpenAI’s new round of financing, which will bring its estimated value to exceed USD 100 billion.

Sources indicated that OpenAI plans to raise billions of dollars, and venture capital firm Thrive Capital will lead this round of funding with a USD 1 billion investment. Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest shareholder, will also be a part of this round.

Reportedly, sources have revealed that Apple is currently in talks with OpenAI for the potential investment, while NVIDIA has already discussed joining the latest round of funding, who reportedly considered investing USD 100 million.

Although it is not yet clear how much Apple and Microsoft plan to invest, the point is that the three most valuable tech giants in the world would all become shareholders of OpenAI if these negotiations end in success.

In a memo on Wednesday, OpenAI’s CFO Sarah Friar stated that the company is seeking new financing but did not disclose specific details. Friar mentioned that OpenAI would leverage this funding to strengthen computing power and cover other operational expenses.

With the rise of the AI industry, Microsoft, Apple, and NVIDIA have also accelerated their pace in developing AI technologies.

Microsoft has invested USD 13 billion in OpenAI since 2019, holding a stake of 49% in this company. Apple, at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June this year, launched the Apple Intelligence system and announced a partnership with OpenAI.

As for NVIDIA, it has long been closely collaborating with OpenAI and has been highly active in making investment in this field. Its investment arm, NVentures, has invested in several AI companies since 2023.

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(Photo credit: OpenAI)

According to a report from Nikkei on August 29, Apple is said to be betting that its first iPhone with Apple Intelligence will be a hit. Thus, the tech giant has requested suppliers to provide components for approximately 88 to 90 million iPhones, over 10% more than the initial component orders of 80 million units for new iPhones in 2023.

Reportedly, some component suppliers have received orders for more than 90 million iPhones. However, they also noted that Apple’s initial orders are typically larger, with adjustments made based on actual sales performance after the launch.

An industry source cited in the report expressed caution regarding Apple’s strong order volume, noting that geopolitical factors are likely to pose significant challenges for iPhone sales in China.

The report cited multiple sources, noting that Apple suppliers are generally cautious,  and forecasting that iPhone shipments for the year will likely be flat, due to the high comparison base from 2023.

In late 2022, COVID-19 has caused disruptions in Zhengzhou, China, the world’s largest iPhone manufacturing hub, resulting in the delay in iPhone shipments to the first half of 2023.

On the other hand, it is still unclear how Apple Intelligence will operate in China, as Apple has yet to finalize agreements with any Chinese AI companies.

While OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, is available in countries like the United States, it is not accessible in China. To introduce similar AI functionalities, Apple will likely need to collaborate with Chinese AI companies.

A previous report from Economic Daily News once indicated that Apple has been in discussions with Baidu, Alibaba Group, and Beijing-based startup Baichuan AI, but no agreements have been confirmed yet.

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(Photo credit: Apple)

NVIDIA’s market leadership has garnered significant attention from other industry players. According to a report from Financial Times, several smaller companies, including Cerebras, d-Matrix, and Grog, have raised hundreds of millions of dollars and are launching new products, hoping to carve out a niche in the market.

Cerebras, founded in 2016, recently unveiled its new platform, Cerebras Inference, based on its CS-3 chip. The company even claims its solution is 20 times faster than NVIDIA’s current generation Hopper for AI inference, and at a fraction of the cost.

Per another report from the Economic Daily News, in March this year, Cerebras also launched the WSE-3 processor designed for training AI models, manufactured using TSMC’s 5nm process. At that time, Cerebras confirmed plans for an IPO and has confidentially filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Notably, Andrew Feldman, CEO of Cerebras, further noted that they have already secured meaningful customers from NVIDIA.

d-Matrix, established five years ago, is launching a new funding round with a target of raising over USD 20 million. This follows their USD 11 million Series B round led by Temasek, completed less than a year ago.

The company plans to fully launch its Corsair platform by the end of the year and is integrating its products with open-source software, including Triton, which competes with NVIDIA’s CUDA. Several of NVIDIA’s largest customers support the use of open-source software.

Groq, founded in the same year as Cerebras and led by a team from Google’s Tensor Processing Unit division, recently raised $64 million from investors including BlackRock Private Equity Partners, giving it a valuation of $2.8 billion.

Despite the rush to find and support the next NVIDIA, semiconductor startups are facing significant challenges, according to the Financial Times.

For example, chipmaker Graphcore was acquired by SoftBank last month for just over USD 6 billion, falling short of the approximately USD 7 billion it had raised from venture capital since its founding in 2016.

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(Photo credit: Cerebras)

As per sources cited in a report from Reuters, it’s revealed that former Intel board member Lip-Bu Tan stepped down after just two years due to disagreements with CEO Pat Gelsinger and other board members.

Two years ago, former Cadence Design Systems CEO Lip-Bu Tan was invited to join Intel’s board of directors to help reverse the company’s operational decline and restore its position as a chipmaker.

In October 2023, his role was expanded to oversee Intel’s manufacturing operations. However, he reportedly stepped down from Intel’s board last week.

The regulatory filings submitted last week have indicated that Tan’s departure from the board was due to a personal decision to reprioritize various commitments, though he remains supportive of Intel and its critical work.

Yet, Reuters further reported that Lip-Bu Tan, a seasoned semiconductor industry veteran, expressed frustration bloated workforce, risk aversion, and lagging AI strategies. This suggests uncertainty around Intel’s efforts to return to profitability.

As of now, neither Intel nor Tan’s venture capital firm, Walden Catalyst, have commented on the matter.

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(Photo credit: Intel)

Following TSMC’s recent acquisition of Innolux’s Tainan plant for NTD 17 billion, another Taiwanese panel maker, AUO, announced on August 27 that it will sell three idled manufacturing facilities in Tainan, Southern Taiwan as well, as memory giant Micron emerged as the buyer.

Part of buildings and facilities located in Taichung, central Taiwan, would also be sold to Micron. According to a report from Economic Daily News, the total transaction amount is NTD 8.1 billion, with an estimated profit of NTD 4.718 billion, as the deal is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

The same report indicates that after Micron’s failed attempt to acquire Innolux’s 4th Plant in Tainan (5.5-generation LCD panel plant), it turned to AUO for a plant purchase.

To focus on its operational strategy, revitalize assets, and optimize its financial structure, AUO’s board of directors has approved the sale, the report suggests. By acquiring the facilities, Micron plans to further expand its DRAM business in Taiwan, with expectations to develop high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI applications.

Industry sources cited by the report have further interpreted the recent plant sales by Taiwan’s leading panel manufacturers as a sign of the rising influence of Chinese LCD companies like BOE and CSOT.

With the Chinese companies dominating the LCD industry, Taiwanese panel manufacturers are moving away from volume-based competition and are gradually selling off plants to mitigate risks associated with price fluctuations in the panel market. Micron’s active investments in Taiwan further strengthen the country’s semiconductor cluster advantage.

Reportedly, AUO pointed out that it originally had three color filter plants in Tainan: the Gen-4 C4A, the Gen-5 C5D, and the Gen-6 C6C.

Among them, the C5D and C6C plants were closed last August, leaving only the C4A plant in production. All three plants are being sold to Micron, with the C4A plant continuing operations under a sale-and-leaseback arrangement.

Micron stated that its operations in Taiwan are designed to meet the growing product demands of the AI era and to reinforce Micron’s market leadership. Through this acquisition, Micron plans to leverage this site to focus on front-end wafer testing,  to supporting the ongoing expansion of DRAM production at Micron’s Taichung and Taoyuan facilities.

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(Photo credit: Micron)