OpenAI has acquired patent assets from Rain AI, the chip startup once backed by CEO Sam Altman, following the collapse of acquisition talks, The Information reported. It is the latest chapter in a relationship that began in 2019, when OpenAI signed a nonbinding letter of intent to spend $51 million on Rain's brain-inspired "neuromorphic" chips when they became available.

Rain AI, founded in San Francisco to build energy-efficient chips modeled on the human brain, laid off nearly its entire staff before OpenAI acquired its patents months later. Financial terms were not disclosed. The startup, which drew personal investment from Altman as well as venture backing, had at one point planned to ship its first silicon — but ran into the brutal competition of the AI hardware race.

For OpenAI, the patent haul brings control over a portfolio of neuromorphic computing intellectual property at a time when the lab is fighting to secure chip supply and technology. The move also comes as compute costs weigh on OpenAI, with rivals and partners racing to lock in hardware and IP of their own.

Sources