OpenAI discussed government loan guarantees for chip plants, not for data centers, CEO Altman says

(Reuters) -OpenAI has spoken with the U.S. government about possible loan guarantees to support the construction of chip factories in the U.S., but has not sought or wanted U.S. government guarantees for building its data centers, CEO Sam Altman said on Thursday. Altman said the discussions were part of broader government efforts to strengthen the domestic chip supply chain, adding that OpenAI and other companies had responded to that call but had not formally applied for any financing. He said the company believes taxpayers should not backstop private-sector data center projects or bail out firms that make poor business decisions. Booming demand for artificial intelligence models and tools, such as ChatGPT developed by OpenAI, has driven plans to produce more semiconductors and data centers to support the industry. OPENAI EYES WAYS TO SELL COMPUTING CAPACITY DIRECTLY In a post on X, Altman outlined how the company is exploring new business models and offerings to fund its expanding infrastructure, as it prepares for about $1.4 trillion in capital commitments over the next eight years. He said OpenAI is considering ways to sell computing capacity directly to companies and individuals, a service he described as an “AI cloud.” Such a move would position OpenAI as a potential rival to major cloud providers, including Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google, as well as emerging “neocloud” firms such as CoreWeave, which currently supply its GPU infrastructure. Altman added the effort could require raising additional equity or debt financing. The plan signals OpenAI’s intent to compete more directly with its own cloud partners in providing the computational power that underpins AI models. Altman's post comes a day after OpenAI's CFO said at a conference hosted by the Wall Street Journal that the company hoped the federal government would help guarantee the financing of chips behind its data center investments.  The startup expects to finish this year with an annualized revenue run rate above $20 billion, with ambitions to reach hundreds of billions by 2030, according to Altman. It was last valued at $500 billion.  OpenAI is in the midst of a multi-billion-dollar buildout of data centers and has signed deals with chipmakers including Nvidia and AMD to secure critical hardware for its artificial intelligence systems. This comes at a crucial time for Wall Street, as investors mull over fears of an AI bubble, questioning the returns on hundreds of billions of dollars in investment on AI expansion.  "If we screw up and can't fix it, we should fail, and other companies will continue on doing good work and servicing customers," he said. "The ecosystem and economy would be fine." David Sacks, the White House artificial intelligence and crypto czar, said earlier on Thursday there will be no federal bailout for AI, as the U.S. races to cement its position as a global leader in the booming technology. "Given our vantage point, we feel good about it. But we of course could be wrong, and the market — not the government — will deal with it if we are," Altman said, addressing talks of the federal government not stepping in if the massive build-out of AI infrastructure does not produce desired results.  (Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru and Krystal Hu in San Francisco; Editing by Alan Barona, Rod Nickel)

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