Safe Superintelligence (SSI), an AI startup co-founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, has quickly become one of the most valuable AI companies, reaching a $32 billion valuation. The company received significant investment from Alphabet (Google) and Nvidia, alongside Greenoaks. This funding boosts SSI’s position in the competitive AI industry.

Google Sells TPUs to SSI for First Time in Strategic Shift

Alphabet has made a significant move by selling its in-house AI chips, Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), to SSI. This is the first time Google has sold TPUs externally, which were previously used only internally. Darren Mowry, Managing Director of Google Cloud’s startup partnerships, stated, “The gravity is increasing dramatically over to us,” referring to the growing interest in SSI's AI models.

SSI Chooses Google’s TPUs Over Nvidia’s GPUs for AI Research

Although Nvidia’s GPUs dominate the AI chip market, SSI has opted to use Google’s TPUs for its AI research and development. TPUs are seen as more efficient than general-purpose GPUs for specific AI tasks, highlighting SSI’s preference for Google’s chips in their groundbreaking work.

SSI’s Rapid Growth Reflects Tech Giants’ Increased AI Investments

SSI’s valuation surge mirrors a larger trend among tech giants like Google, Nvidia, and Amazon, who are investing in AI startups not only for financial returns but also to secure strategic customers for their cloud services. These investments show how the competition in AI infrastructure is intensifying among leading tech companies.

Amazon and Other Cloud Providers Build Competing AI Chips

Amazon, alongside Google and Nvidia, is developing its own AI chips, such as Trainium and Inferentia, to compete in the growing market for AI infrastructure. Despite these efforts, Google and Nvidia continue to be major players in the AI chip industry, with their products being integral to AI development at companies like SSI.

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This article was created with AI assistance.