OpenAI's Custom Silicon and Figure's Data Play Signal the Own-The-Stack Era
WhatTheLJW · x · 2026-08-27
Citing OpenAI's Jalapeno chip effort, the author argues AI has entered the "own the stack" era: model labs trained models, chip firms made chips, data firms collected data — those lanes are dissolving.
OpenAI went from a pure model lab to designing custom silicon optimized for its own workloads, while Figure moved into the data layer with Index, spanning 108 countries. Motives vary: deepening thin moats, cutting costs, or justifying valuations.
Related event: OpenAI Goes Full-Stack: From Models to Custom Chips and Data Centers(2 posts)→
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