The AI revolution is here and all around us. The frenzy for AI investment is now at a fever pitch. Starting with SoftBank Group Corp., the founder Masayoshi Son is seeking as much as $100 billion to bankroll a chip venture to compete with Nvidia Corp. and supply semiconductors essential for AI, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Code-named Izanagi, the project marks the billionaire’s next big endeavor as SoftBank sharply curtails startup investments. Son envisions creating a company that can complement chip design unit Arm Holdings Plc and allow the billionaire to build an AI chip powerhouse, said the people, who requested anonymity because the discussions remain private. In one scenario being considered, SoftBank would provide $30 billion, with $70 billion possibly coming from institutions in the Middle East, one of the people said.

If he succeeds, the chip project will mark one of the largest investments in the AI arena since the advent of ChatGPT, dwarfing Microsoft Corp.’s recent bet on OpenAI of more than $10 billion. Son named the project after Izanagi, the Japanese god of creation and life, partly because it includes the initials for artificial general intelligence, the people said. Son has for years foretold the coming of AGI in his presentations, saying that a world filled with machines that are smarter than humans will be safer, healthier and happier. For more on this, read the full Bloomberg report.

This is now a race considering that OpenAI is now proposing a Massive 7 Trillion dollar AI chip venture thast could be appealing to the Biden administration that has announced that they'll be awarding billions in subsidies to advanced chip makers.

Altman has been meeting with potential investors and partners in the US, Middle East and Asia over the past few weeks, but he has told some of them that he can’t move forward without a green light from Washington.

Altman, a familiar face in DC after repeated visits to Capitol Hill to advocate his AI agenda, is now trying to get US officials on board with a plan to turbocharge semiconductor production. The CEO has met with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and is working to arrange meetings with other officials.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Intel Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. are the main companies that fabricate such chips and thus possible partners for Altman’s effort. Bloomberg reported he met with Samsung executives last month and the Financial Times reported he met with TSMC. It was also reported by BusinessKorea earlier this month that Altman had visited Intel after meetings with Samwsung and SK Hynix.

Altman has indicated he believes it’s essential to work collaboratively with the US government on timing and structure for the venture.

“OpenAI has had productive discussions about increasing global infrastructure and supply chains for chips, energy, and data centers — which are crucial for AI and other industries that rely on them,” the company said in a statement. “We will continue to keep the US government informed given the importance to national priorities, and look forward to sharing more details at a later date.” For more, read the full BNN Bloomberg report.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Nvidia is building a new business unit focused on designing bespoke chips for cloud computing firms and others, including advanced artificial intelligence (AI) processors.

The dominant global designer and supplier of AI chips aims to capture a portion of an exploding market for custom AI chips and shield itself from the growing number of companies pursuing alternatives to its products. You could the rest of this interesting development here.

The Biden administration should be keeping an eye on these proposed deals from OpenAI and Softbank that appear to be considering the majority of their funding coming from the Middle East. When you hear Middle East you have to hear China being behind some of these massive sums. Read this Financial Times report about China and Saudi Arabia working on technology projects. 

If the U.S. is trying to ensure that China doesn't get ahead of the U.S. in terms of advanced chips for next-gen military vehicles and missile systems, then they'll have to step in before private funding sidesteps around foreign financing rules. This is why Sam Altman has stated that he can’t move forward without a green light from Washington.