Sebastien Bubeck, Microsoft’s vice president of GenAI research, said on Monday that he is leaving the firm to go for ChatGPT creator OpenAI.
TakeAway Points:
- Microsoft on Monday said that its vice president of GenAI research, Sebastien Bubeck, is leaving the company to join ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.
- It is uncertain what position Bubeck will hold at the AI startup funded by Microsoft.
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is expected to report a 40% leap in third-quarter profit on Thursday thanks to soaring demand.
Sebastien Bubeck to join OpenAI
Microsoft on Monday said that its vice president of GenAI research, Sebastien Bubeck, is leaving the company to join ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.
It was unclear what role Bubeck would assume at the Microsoft-backed AI startup.
“Sebastian has decided to leave Microsoft to further his work toward developing AGI,” a spokesperson for Microsoft said, adding that the company looks forward to continuing their relationship through Bubeck’s work with OpenAI.
Most of Bubeck’s coauthors who worked on a research paper on Microsoft’s Phi LLMs, which are smaller than traditional large language models (LLMs), remain at Microsoft and plan to continue developing the models, according to the Information, which first reported his departure.
The development follows a series of departures from OpenAI, including that of long-time chief technology officer Mira Murati in September.
CEO Sam Altman has denied any link between the departures and a planned restructuring of the company.
AI Chip Demand: TSMC Anticipate A Third-quarter Profit Of 40%
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the primary manufacturer of sophisticated chips used in artificial intelligence applications, is anticipated to announce a 40% increase in third-quarter earnings on Thursday.
The world’s largest contract chipmaker, whose customers include Apple and Nvidia, has benefitted from the surge towards AI.
TSMC is set to report a net profit of T$298.2 billion ($9.27 billion) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, according to a LSEG SmartEstimate drawn from 22 analysts. SmartEstimates give greater weight to forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate.
That estimate compares to the 2023 third-quarter net profit of T$211 billion.
TSMC last week reported a jump in third-quarter revenue as reported in Taiwan dollars, comfortably beating market expectations. The company gives its revenue outlook in U.S. dollars at its earnings conference.
“Most of TSMC’s major clients, including Apple, Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, and Mediatek, are launching new products that heavily rely on TSMC’s advanced process technologies,” said Li Fang-kuo, chairman of President Capital Management.
“TSMC’s Q3 earnings will exceed expectations by a lot,” Li added.
TSMC, at its quarterly earnings call at 0600 GMT on Thursday, will update its outlook for the current quarter as well as for the full year, including its capital expenditure as it races to expand production.
TSMC is spending billions building new factories overseas, including $65 billion on three plants in the U.S. state of Arizona, though it says most manufacturing will remain in Taiwan.
On its last earnings call in July, TSMC raised its full-year revenue forecast and adjusted its capital expenditure plans for this year to between $30 billion and $32 billion, compared with a previous forecast of $28 billion to $32 billion.
AI drive
The AI boom has helped drive up the price of shares in Asia’s most valuable company, with TSMC’s Taipei-listed stock soaring 77% so far this year, compared with a 28% gain for the broader market.
Hsinchu-headquartered TSMC, colloquially referred to as the “sacred mountain protecting the country” for its crucial role in Taiwan’s export-oriented economy, faces little competition.
Once the dominant force in the semiconductor industry, five-decade-old Intel is facing one of its worst periods as losses mount at the contract manufacturing unit it is building out in hopes of challenging TSMC.
