OpenAI has unveiled its first custom artificial intelligence chip, Jalapeño, marking a major step in the tech giant’s efforts to build more of the computing infrastructure that powers its AI models and products, the company announced on Wednesday.
- +OpenAI unveils first custom chip to power AI models
The chip, developed in partnership with semiconductor company Broadcom, is designed specifically for large language model (LLM) inference, which is the process through which AI systems such as ChatGPT generate responses to users.
The chip, developed in partnership with semiconductor company Broadcom, is designed specifically for large language model (LLM) inference, which is the process through which AI systems such as ChatGPT generate responses to users.
OpenAI said Jalapeño is the first accelerator in a planned multi-generation computing platform intended to make AI services faster, more reliable and more affordable.
OpenAI said early testing indicates the chip will deliver a significant efficiency advantage over current industry-leading hardware, though final performance figures are still being measured.
Greg Brockman, President and Co-Founder of OpenAI, tied the chip to the company’s broader infrastructure ambitions.
Richard Ho, who leads OpenAI’s hardware program, said the chip was built entirely around the specific demands of large language model inference.
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan described the partnership as part of a much longer-term infrastructure commitment.
Jalapeño was designed from scratch as a dedicated inference accelerator rather than adapted from general-purpose AI hardware, with OpenAI describing it as informed directly by the systems it runs daily across ChatGPT, Codex, its API and future agentic products.
Earlier this month, Nairametrics reported that OpenAI announced it was preparing a major overhaul of ChatGPT.
This was its most significant product update since the chatbot’s debut in 2022, as the company seeks to evolve the platform into a broader AI-powered ecosystem, the Financial Times reported.
The redesign is expected to integrate coding capabilities, AI agents and third-party services into a single platform, transforming ChatGPT from a conversational assistant into what the report described as a “superapp.”
