OpenAI unveils custom inference chip developed with Broadcom

OpenAI unveiled its first custom-built inference chip on June 24. The chip was developed with Broadcom and is known internally as Jalapeño. Most Americans will not encounter the chip directly. The announcement marks a shift in the U.S.-China technology competition from software toward control of underlying infrastructure.

Infrastructure competition Chinese computing firm DeepSeek is seeking roughly seven billion dollars in new investment. Huawei continues expanding its domestic semiconductor ecosystem. China's military is fielding autonomous systems and intelligent command networks.

The White House has accused Chinese entities of running industrial-scale campaigns to extract capabilities from U.S. computing models.

Model security concerns White House science and technology director Michael Kratsios warned in an April memorandum that Chinese entities are conducting deliberate campaigns using tens of thousands of proxy accounts. The campaigns aim to copy functional capabilities of leading U.S. models through mass queries and coordinated probing.

Supply chain dependencies America is investing hundreds of billions of dollars in advanced computing infrastructure. Many electrical components required for data centers remain dependent on foreign manufacturing linked to China. Critical minerals and rare-earth elements used in these systems also depend on suppliers where China holds a dominant position.