OpenAI and Broadcom Ink 10GW Chip Deal to Power Next-Gen AI Systems

OpenAI is betting big on building its hardware, as it just announced a multi-year deal with Broadcom to develop and deploy 10 gigawatts of custom AI accelerators.

The deal, announced jointly by OpenAI and Broadcom, will see OpenAI designing the chips and systems, while Broadcom manufactures them using its Ethernet and connectivity technologies. The first racks of these custom accelerators are expected to be deployed in late 2026, with the rollout continuing through 2029.

By creating its own processors, OpenAI aims to reduce reliance on third-party GPU providers like NVIDIA. This very deal will help the AI giant optimize performance for its own models, including the next generations of GPT and Sora.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called the collaboration “a critical step in building the infrastructure needed to unlock AI’s potential and deliver real benefits for people and businesses.” Whereas, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan described the partnership as “a pivotal moment in the pursuit of artificial general intelligence.”

He further noted that with this deal, OpenAI’s model expertise and Broadcom’s networking solutions can come under the same umbrella to redefine large-scale AI compute infrastructure.

It’s worth noting that each rack will integrate Broadcom’s Ethernet, PCIe, and optical networking systems. This will help deliver scale-up and scale-out performance for OpenAI’s data centers and cloud partners. The partnership hints at the growing importance of custom accelerators and efficient AI networking in meeting global demand for computing power.

All that said, this isn’t OpenAI’s first major hardware collaboration. Last month, both OpenAI and NVIDIA announced a big partnership to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of NVIDIA systems for next-generation AI infrastructure.

While the Altman-led AI company continues joining hands with new partners, it is still closely working with Microsoft. The partnership between two tech giants provides Azure infrastructure for ChatGPT and other products.

With over 800 million weekly active users and a rapidly expanding suite of AI products, OpenAI is looking to cover all the grounds to fuel the next decade of AI.