Photo: teahub.io | AI chip: illustrative photo
If the negotiations are successful, then Sam Altman will receive $7 trillion from the MGX investment fund to create production facilities in the UAE .
Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, has found investors for his AI chip project. MGX (UAE) is ready to invest in the production of advanced semiconductors, writes the Financial Times.
Sources said that MGX is ready to finance Sam Altman's initiative and is currently in negotiations with him. Altman seeks to reduce dependence on Nvidia's AI products, since the company has a monopoly in the market. In this regard, Sam proposed creating several factories to produce advanced AI accelerators, which would be supervised by specialists from TSMC. If negotiations are successful, MGX will invest US$7 trillion.
MGX is an investment fund that invests in artificial intelligence development projects. The head of the fund is a relative of the UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, so MGX is closely connected with the country’s government agencies.
Omar Sultan Al Olama, the UAE's minister for artificial intelligence, told the publication that the country has some stock of Nvidia processors. The national AI ecosystem will operate on their basis. He emphasized that the UAE is constantly in need of advanced accelerators, as neural networks are developing at a rapid pace. And it would be nice if the Emirates had its own production of AI chips.
The Financial Times recalls that the UAE previously wanted to invest in Chinese companies developing AI accelerators. But the United States intervened in the process and insisted that the Emirates reconsider its decision. As a result, G42 stopped collaborating with Chinese companies. Now the country has a wonderful chance to acquire its own semiconductor capacities.
National Security Adviser to the UAE President Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al-Nahyan expressed hope that local specialists will manage companies producing AI chips, although, he noted, the competence and reliability of international partners are no less important for the government.