Documents: OpenAI signed a letter of intent in 2019 to spend $51M on brain-inspired chips developed by startup Rain AI, in which Sam Altman had invested $1M+
The documents expose an early attempt by OpenAI to secure specialized hardware from Rain AI, while also showing that Sam Altman had a personal investment in the startup. The letter of intent signals prospective demand, not a completed chip purchase.
Rain AI gains evidence that OpenAI once contemplated a $51M commitment for its brain-inspired chips, although the letter of intent does not establish that an order was completed.
Altman’s investment makes the proposed supplier relationship a governance and disclosure issue for OpenAI, particularly where executive investments overlap with company procurement.
Second-order effects
Any pursuit of specialized chips forces OpenAI to weigh startup-supplier relationships against internal chip development and conventional hardware sourcing; its reported review of chip-making options makes that trade-off explicit.
Chip startups seeking large AI-lab customers may face greater scrutiny of investor ties and procurement independence, not just technical performance.
Third-order effects
If AI labs increasingly finance, partner with, or build around specialized hardware suppliers, compute strategy becomes more tightly bound to capital allocation and governance controls.
The pattern points toward a split between labs that rely on incumbent hardware and those that try to shape their own supply chain; whether neuromorphic approaches win depends on demonstrated deployment, not letters of intent.
The trend: AI labs are treating access to differentiated compute as a strategic supply-chain question, blending procurement, investment, and in-house hardware options.
“Altman talked to investors in the Middle East in recent months about raising money to start a new chip company to help OpenAI and others diversify beyond their current reliance on Nvidia GPUs and specialized chips from Google, Amazon, and a few smaller suppliers, according to tw…
At our investment firm (@launch) we call “letters of intent” “letters of nothing,” because they are as binding as the paper they're printed on If someone signs an LOI, it's non-binding 99%+ of the time... investors understand an LOI can be ripped up at any time.
Large advance payments to neurotrophic chip startups that he owned (accelerating AI) are not in line with the goal of ensuring the safe development of AI, it makes a joke of Sam's “I own no OpenAI stock” comment, and it looks like a form of self-enrichment.
Sam Altman has a personal investment in a Chinese- and Saudi-funded AI chip startup that agreed to an eight-figure deal with OpenAI. CFIUS forced the Saudis to divest and the company quietly replaced its CEO. https://www.wired.com/...
Remember how Sam Altman told the US Senate he had no “direct” investment in OpenAI? and how they gushed over his apparent selflessness? 👉He didn't mention that (presumably) he had equity in YC which likely has equity in OpenAI. And now this: 👉"OpenAI Agreed to Buy $51 Million...
@GaryMarcus This is a nothing burger. A Letter Of Intent to buy what are promised to be super advanced AI chips, as an AI company, when there's extreme demand / competition for, and shortage of, AI chips.. Sounds exactly like what they / he should be doing.