Temasek, OpenAI in early-stage talks for funding: report

Photo credit: Temasek

Temasek Holdings, a Singapore state-owned investment firm, is in early-stage discussions to back OpenAI, the Financial Times reported.

The talks come as Singapore looks to become an Asian AI powerhouse, having set aside roughly US$742 million for investments in the sector. Should the deal materialize, Temasek would be the ChatGPT developer’s first state-backed investor.

Temasek declined to comment “on market speculations” at Tech in Asia’s request, while OpenAI has yet to respond.

According to the report, the discussions evolved over several meetings between Temasek executives and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Initially, the investment firm showed interest in Altman’s VC fund, but the focus has shifted to OpenAI itself.

As conversations are ongoing, the potential investment’s size is yet to be determined. Nevertheless, the investment could help propel Singapore’s ambitions of widening its local AI talent pool and setting up AI centers with leading partner companies.

Despite its rapid revenue increase following the launch of ChatGPT, OpenAI operates at a loss. In 2022, the company doubled its losses year on year to US$540 million due to hefty research and development expenses.

One major obstacle for the firm is a scarcity in AI-focused chips. This is partly why Altman is wooing investors – including the government of the United Arab Emirates – in order to raise as much as trillions of US dollars for a “wildly ambitious tech initiative.”

OpenAI has seen a recent surge in valuation and continued interest from global investors, despite an ongoing investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission as well as a breach of contract lawsuit from Elon Musk, a co-founder of the AI firm.

See also: Why Singapore’s LLM isn’t sweating GPT-4