I came across some news about how OpenAI’s chief executive apparently approached TSMC with a huge proposal for building semiconductor manufacturing plants. From what I read, the executives at the chip company weren’t too impressed and supposedly called him just a podcasting guy rather than taking him seriously.
The story goes that he was asking for something like 36 manufacturing facilities with a price tag of around 7 trillion dollars. That seems like an absolutely crazy amount of money, even for AI development needs.
Has anyone else heard about this situation? I’m curious what people think about such massive requests from tech companies. Is this kind of approach normal when trying to secure chip manufacturing partnerships, or was this proposal way out of line with industry standards?
From an industry perspective, this type of massive proposal shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how semiconductor partnerships actually work. TSMC typically builds relationships gradually through proven demand and technical collaboration, not through astronomical upfront requests. The 7 trillion figure alone demonstrates disconnect from manufacturing realities. For context, TSMC’s entire market cap is around 500 billion, so requesting facilities worth 14 times their company value without established production history or technical specifications would naturally raise eyebrows. What’s concerning is the apparent lack of due diligence before making such an approach. Successful tech companies usually start with smaller capacity agreements and scale based on actual demand patterns. This situation likely damaged potential future negotiations since TSMC executives now view the company as unrealistic in their planning. The semiconductor industry values technical expertise and realistic roadmaps over ambitious financial proposals. Building trust through smaller initial partnerships would have been more effective than this grandiose approach.
yeah i saw this too and honestly it sounds like someone didnt do their homework before walking into that meeting. asking for 7 trillion upfront is just bonkers - thats more than most countries GDP lol.
no wonder TSMC thought he was out of touch with reality. you dont just show up and ask for the moon without proving you can even handle a small order first. kinda embarassing tbh