OpenAI and Broadcom team up on Jalapeño chip, aiming to rival Nvidia's Blackwell

OpenAI and Broadcom have unveiled their custom AI chip, Jalapeño, designed for AI reasoning. It claims to match Nvidia's Blackwell and Google's TPU in performance. The chip is optimized for large language models, aiming to run AI apps faster and more efficiently. OpenAI's hardware lead says it can adapt to future model versions.

Jalapeño was co-designed by OpenAI engineers and Broadcom. It will only be used internally, not sold. A test sample already hit power and performance goals with a GPT model. OpenAI plans to deploy it by year-end and develop more versions.

Broadcom's CEO noted that AI demand has raised memory costs, squeezing profit margins on custom chips. The memory chips come from SK Hynix and Samsung. The chip and server systems are made by Tyan, for OpenAI's use only.