By Max A. Cherney, Krystal Hu and Deepa Seetharaman
Publication Date: 2026-02-02 21:15:00
By Max A. Cherney, Krystal Hu and Deepa Seetharaman
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 2 (Reuters) – OpenAI is unsatisfied with some of Nvidia’s latest artificial intelligence chips, and it has sought alternatives since last year, eight sources familiar with the matter said, potentially complicating the relationship between the two highest-profile players in the AI boom.
The ChatGPT-maker’s shift in strategy, the details of which are first reported here, is over an increasing emphasis on chips used to perform specific elements of AI inference, the process when an AI model such as the one that powers the ChatGPT app responds to customer queries and requests. Nvidia remains dominant in chips for training large AI models, while inference has become a new front in the competition.
This decision by OpenAI and others to seek out alternatives in the inference chip market marks a significant test of Nvidia’s AI dominance and comes as the two companies are in investment talks.
In September, Nvidia said it intended to pour as much as $100 billion into OpenAI as part of a deal that gave the chipmaker a stake in the startup and gave OpenAI the cash it needed to buy the advanced chips.
The deal had been expected to close within weeks, Reuters reported. Instead, negotiations have dragged on for months. During that time, OpenAI has struck deals with AMD and others for GPUs built to rival Nvidia’s. But its shifting product road map also has changed the kind of…