How Intel spurned OpenAI and fell behind the times

The erstwhile market kingpin — whose marketing slogan 'Intel Inside' long represented the gold standard of quality — is still struggling to get a blockbuster AI chip product to market

Intel's decision not to invest in OpenAI, which went on to launch the groundbreaking ChatGPT in 2022 and is now reportedly valued at about $80bn (€73.3bn), has not previously been made public.

For US chip giant Intel, the darling of the computer age before it fell on harder times in the AI era, things might have been quite different.

About seven years ago, the company had the chance to buy a stake in OpenAI, then a fledgling non-profit research organisation working in a little-known field called generative artificial intelligence, four people with direct knowledge of those discussions told Reuters.