Broadcom’s mystery $10 billion AI chip customer is not OpenAI, a top executive at the chipmaker confirmed on Monday. The news comes as the two companies officially announced their own major partnership to build custom AI chips, but it seems there’s another, even bigger deal in the works.
The speculation about OpenAI started last month when Broadcom’s CEO announced a massive $10 billion order from a new, unnamed customer. With OpenAI on a deal-making spree to secure the massive computing power it needs, many analysts were quick to point to the AI giant as the mystery buyer.
But on Monday, as he appeared on CNBC to discuss the new partnership, Broadcom’s president, Charlie Kawwas, shot down those rumors. “I would love to take a $10 billion [purchase order] from my good friend Greg,” Kawwas said, referring to OpenAI’s President Greg Brockman. “He has not given me that PO yet.”
While the OpenAI deal is still a huge win for Broadcom, the revelation of another, even larger customer is a tantalizing mystery. Broadcom doesn’t name its biggest clients, but analysts have pointed to giants like Google, Meta, and TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, as likely candidates.
The new partnership with OpenAI will see the two companies jointly build and deploy custom AI chips starting late next year. It’s a key part of OpenAI’s massive effort to build out its AI infrastructure, a push that has seen it sign multi-billion dollar deals with AMD and Nvidia in recent weeks.
