OpenAI chip veteran Clive Chan moves to Anthropic

Clive Chan, a key figure in OpenAI's chip project, announced on X that he left the company and joined Anthropic this week. He was OpenAI's 'chip employee number 002' and worked deeply on custom chip development. In his farewell post, he praised the team's talent but said he wanted to climb a new mountain from scratch.

Chan explained his move wasn't due to dissatisfaction with OpenAI, but because Anthropic's talent, values, and ambitions impressed him. This comes as OpenAI's chip project with Broadcom is set to start in the second half of 2026.

The move highlights fierce competition for AI talent. By bringing in a key hardware member from OpenAI, Anthropic may speed up its own chip or infrastructure plans, while OpenAI deals with the impact of losing a core team member.