OpenAI CEO leads Rain AI to raise $150 million, challenging NVIDIA Corporation's AI chip dominance.

According to informed sources, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI supported by Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US), is actively raising $150 million for the semiconductor startup Rain AI, aiming to compete with NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) in the artificial intelligence hardware market. Rain AI's valuation in this round of financing has reached $600 million, indicating its further layout in the energy-efficient and high-performance semiconductor field. OpenAI CEO Altman is not only a key driver of Rain AI's fundraising this time, but also a major investor in the company's first round of funding in 2022, when Rain AI raised $25 million. It is said that there may be a second round of investment next month. Altman pays high attention to Rain AI's energy-efficient and high-performance semiconductor technology, and has shown its huge potential to OpenAI investors. As a newcomer in the artificial intelligence hardware market, Rain AI has recently hired former Apple Inc. executive Jean-Didier Allegrucci to oversee its hardware engineering plans. The company confidently claims that its chips are more energy-efficient than the leading NVIDIA Corporation in the AI chip industry and estimates that it can capture 85% of the market share. At the same time, OpenAI has received billions of dollars in investment from Microsoft Corporation and continues to purchase AI accelerators from NVIDIA Corporation to train its large language models. In addition, the company also purchases processors from AMD (AMD.US) and reportedly collaborating with Broadcom Inc. (AVGO.US) to develop custom chips. NVIDIA Corporation is also strengthening its ties with Elon Musk, who plans to purchase 100,000 NVIDIA Corporation processors for xAI and other AI projects. Although the collaboration between NVIDIA Corporation and OpenAI is expected to continue, the rise of Rain AI undoubtedly brings a new competitive landscape to this field. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives pointed out that Rain AI is a legitimate player that cannot be ignored in the future development of artificial intelligence and chips. In the early stages of the AI revolution, every move of Rain AI is closely watched. He emphasized that there are many participants in this field, not only including the "godfather of artificial intelligence" Huang Renxun and his company NVIDIA Corporation.