Forbes Daily: Inside OpenAI’s Efforts To Build Its Own Chip
Forbes Staff
andForbes Daily,
Forbes Staff.
To satisfy its insatiable appetite for computing power, OpenAI decided to build its own hardware.
Two years later, the firm announced its first semiconductor, an inference chip named Jalapeño. In June, OpenAI said it plans to start putting them into data centers by the end of the year.
In an interview with Forbes, VP of hardware Richard Ho says the move to build a chip is about “owning the full stack of that infrastructure”—even if that puts them in friendly competition with semiconductor giant Nvidia.
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First Up
- AI chatbot platform Character.ai, which faced lawsuits over teen suicides and copyright disputes, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday. The firm said Disney made a $20 million offer to license some of its intellectual property.
- Starbucks said it will not buy Chipotle, days after a Financial Times report sparked rumors of a takeover.
- Where markets closed (10/12): The S&P 500 stayed mostly flat, while the Nasdaq dropped 0.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4%. A nearly 4% drop in Micron shares weighed on the Nasdaq, and the unraveling of the “energy ceasefire” announced by President Donald Trump lifted oil prices.
Business + Finance
Tony Yoseloff is the managing partner and chief investment officer at Davidson Kempner, a hedge fund managing $40 billion in assets that doesn’t get as much attention as large equity investors, but has become one of Wall Street’s largest credit investors thanks to its record of reliability. With AI debt crowding credit markets and junk yields soaring, Yoseloff, who is worth an estimated $1.3 billion himself, anticipates future bargains.
While nearly all small business owners report using AI to some extent, only a minority reported actually reaping big benefits in a new survey conducted by Wakefield Research for TD Bank. The biggest barriers they cited were data privacy or security concerns, a lack of employee training and cost.
Tech + Innovation
Beijing-based AI startup Moonshot is planning a confidential Hong Kong IPO and is targeting a $50 billion valuation—which would be the world’s largest pure-play generative AI IPO. But an escalating equity dispute with former shareholders could mean regulatory hurdles, investor skepticism and massive financial exposure ahead of a public debut that would be no sooner than Q1 2027.
Money + Politics
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said she “will not be silenced” after federal authorities raided her home in Washington, D.C. early Monday, calling it “an attempt to target political enemies.” The raid follows an onslaught of attacks from President Donald Trump and his allies over the Somali-born congresswoman’s citizenship status, as well as Trump’s repeated attacks on the Somali community in Minnesota.
Daily Cover Story
Toms Founder Pledged $100 Million To Psychedelics. Now He Says The Trip Isn’t The Treatment
Three years ago, Blake Mycoskie came out of semi-retirement years after selling his shoe brand Toms to announce a new mission: Donate $100 million over the next two decades to fund psychedelic research, political advocacy and expand access to mind-bending drugs.
But ask the Toms founder what mattered most in his recovery, and the man writing the checks doesn’t pick the drugs. “The therapy is more important, for sure,” Mycoskie says, “without the therapy, I wouldn’t have gotten better.”
The $100 million pledge was a big commitment—roughly a quarter of his stated net worth at the time. And Mycoskie still intends to fulfill that promise. But the treatment he underwent following a suicidal crisis in 2024 gave him a moment of clarity: Psychedelics only opened a door. What really healed him was getting off a stack of psychiatric drugs after what he says was a bipolar misdiagnosis, then doing months of therapy and mantra-based meditation. Mycoskie now believes that the slow work, which has yet to be encapsulated in a pill, is more important than the drugs themselves. “People think they’re a magic pill and they’re not,” says Mycoskie.
There is still more work to do before anyone can say how, why and for whom psychedelics may treat depression, suicidality, post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction and other issues, says Rachel Yehuda, the director at The Parsons Research Center for Psychedelic Healing at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
“We need to understand how this new tool and approach should be used for maximal advantage,” she says. “What we shouldn’t do is start giving psychedelics to everyone and anyone because the FDA approves them.”
WHY IT MATTERS It’s an inconvenient message for a field racing to turn mind-altering molecules into medicine. Mycoskie’s point is less glamorous: The drug may open the session, but therapy, preparation and follow-through are what determine its lasting benefit. He’s not alone in warning that psychedelics are being sold—by true believers, enthusiasts and investors—as a cure-all for the mind.
MORE How Gilgamesh Turned On Big Pharma’s Billion-Dollar Appetite For Psychedelic Drugs
Facts + Comments
The Social Security Administration is set to announce its 2027 cost-of-living adjustment on Wednesday, as inflation continues to drive up prices. The adjustment will show up in beneficiaries’ checks starting in January:
3.5%: The cost-of-living adjustment predicted by The Senior Citizens League
About $56: How much the average retired workers’ benefit increased following the 2.8% COLA in 2026
75.9 million: The number of Americans who received Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, or both, as of August
Strategy + Success
For college students trying to find a job after graduation, building skills is more important than having a perfect resume, hiring executives at major firms say. Don’t panic about not landing an internship—a summer job at a fast food restaurant or a seasonal retail gig can demonstrate leadership, customer service and sales skills. Spend time trying to meet potential employers at campus job fairs or connecting on LinkedIn to convey your genuine interest in a company.
Video
Quiz
A federal judge ripped into Justice Department lawyers on Monday over the Trump administration’s allegedly unauthorized removal of hundreds of trees on government land in Washington, D.C., going as far as telling the lawyers, “You did not do your best. You did your absolute worst.” Where were the trees removed from?
A. The White House lawn
B. The East Potomac golf course
C. Arlington National Cemetery
D. The Kennedy Center
Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire.