From Reuters via MSN, June 27:
OpenAI has recently begun renting Google's artificial intelligence chips to power ChatGPT and its other products, a source close to the matter told Reuters on Friday.
The ChatGPT maker is one of the largest purchasers of Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs), using the AI chips to train models and also for inference computing, a process in which an AI model uses its trained knowledge to make predictions or decisions based on new information.
OpenAI planned to add Google Cloud service to meet its growing needs for computing capacity, Reuters had exclusively reported earlier this month, marking a surprising collaboration between two prominent competitors in the AI sector.
For Google, the deal comes as it is expanding external availability of its in-house tensor processing units (TPUs), which were historically reserved for internal use. That helped Google win customers including Big Tech player Apple as well as startups like Anthropic and Safe Superintelligence, two ChatGPT-maker competitors launched by former OpenAI leaders.
The move to rent Google's TPUs signals the first time OpenAI has used non-Nvidia chips meaningfully and shows the Sam Altman-led company's shift away from relying on backer Microsoft's data centers. It could potentially boost TPUs as a cheaper alternative to Nvidia's GPUs, according to the Information, which reported the development earlier....
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The Google product has been a long time acoming. Some previous posts:
June 2016 - Machine Learning: JP Morgan Compares Google's New Chip With NVIDIA's (GOOG; NVDA)
April 2017 - Watch Out NVIDIA: "Google Details Tensor Chip Powers" (GOOG; NVDA)
May 2018 - Ahead of Today's NVIDIA Earnings: A Look at One of the Competitors (GOOG; NVDA)
We'll have much more on Google next week but for today the next-gen Tensor Processing Unit...
June 2023 - "Elon Musk Predicts Nvidia’s Monopoly in A.I. Chips Won’t Last" (NVDA; TSLA)
September 2023 - Chips: "Google TPU v5e AI Chip Debuts after Controversial Origins"
July 2024 - Apple Trained Its Large Language Model On Broadcom-Designed TPUs In Google's Cloud, Meh (AVGO, GOOG, AAPL)
And many, many more, use the 'search blog' box, upper left, if interested.
Google of course has its own AI model entrants, Gemini among others and so, of course, is not giving Mr. Altman their best chips.
