OpenAI offers AI for chip design, touts cost advantage over open-source, CFO says
Open-source and open-weight models are widely seen as a cheaper alternative to frontier models from OpenAI and Anthropic
OpenAI is expanding its AI capabilities into specialized sectors and offering lower-cost solutions compared to open-source alternatives, according to Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar. Speaking at Goldman Sachs' Communacopia + Technology Conference, Friar highlighted the company's focus on sectors like chip design, life sciences, and financial services, as businesses increasingly seek tailored AI systems.
OpenAI is also exploring outcome-based pricing models to meet growing enterprise demand for measurable returns on AI investments. This strategic push comes as OpenAI faces competition from Chinese open-weight models and rivals such as Anthropic, which increasingly demand visible returns from AI spending. OpenAI recently completed the production of its Jalapeno chip using its own models within nine months, a notable achievement in chip development.
To boost adoption, OpenAI recently reduced the price of its lower-cost Luna model by 80%, leading to a tenfold increase in usage. The company's coding tool, Codex, has attracted 25 million users. Enterprise revenue grew by 32% between June and July, while overall annualized revenue saw a 20% increase. By mid-year, enterprise and consumer businesses had reached a near-even split, ahead of OpenAI's goal of reaching this balance by year-end.
Friar noted that deploying OpenAI's lower-cost model could be more economical than running Chinese open-source alternatives on cloud providers.
Written by urgent.news from The Hindu - Sci-Tech's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
