“Rain told investors that Altman had personally invested more than $1 million in the company.”
OpenAI signed a letter of intent in 2019 to spend $51 million on Rain’s chips, the year after Altman led one of Rain’s seed rounds. Rain then cited both his money and the OpenAI deal to pitch investors. The chip still hasn’t taped out, and US regulators made Rain’s Saudi-affiliated lead investor sell its stake. OpenAI’s CEO sits on both sides of the order book, and OpenAI calls it a “nonbinding” letter.