For years, Nvidia has been the undisputed backbone of the AI boom, supplying the graphics processing units (GPUs) that train and run the world's most advanced models. Now, a growing number of its biggest customers are designing their own chips which is a shift that signals the next phase of the AI race is as much about controlling infrastructure as it is about building better models.
The latest entrant is OpenAI, which recently unveiled Jalapeño, its first in-house AI inference chip. Developed in partnership with Broadcom and manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the processor handles inference at the stage where a trained model generates responses to user prompts and will initially be deployed within OpenAI's own infrastructure rather than sold commercially.
