OpenAI explored acquiring wafer-scale chip designer Cerebras, a move that would have involved a partnership with Tesla. Emails uncovered through an ongoing lawsuit involving Elon Musk reveal that Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s co-founder and former chief scientist, suggested that if OpenAI moved forward with purchasing Cerebras, the deal would likely go through Tesla. He wrote to Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, and Musk, stating: “In the event we decide to buy Cerebras, my strong sense is that it’ll be done through Tesla.”

Although it is unclear how far along these discussions progressed, earlier correspondence from Sutskever noted an agenda that included “Negotiate merger terms with Cerebras” and “More due diligence with Cerebras.” At the time, OpenAI was grappling with the high costs of rapidly scaling its computing resources to compete with Google. Backed by Musk, OpenAI was even considered to be an arm of Tesla, akin to DeepMind’s acquisition by Google.

In the end, OpenAI opted to partner with Microsoft for cloud services, eventually transitioning away from its original non-profit model toward a more profit-oriented structure. This shift led to a lawsuit from Musk, who subsequently launched his own AI venture, xAI.

The proposed acquisition of Cerebras never materialized, and the chip company is now preparing for an IPO and has signed a significant deal with G42. Meanwhile, OpenAI, which once considered raising trillions to fund its own chip manufacturing, is now expected to partner with Broadcom to develop a custom chip, likely to be manufactured by TSMC, slated for release in 2026.