TOKYO — OpenAI, known for its ChatGPT generative artificial intelligence platform, will explore possible partnerships in Japan’s semiconductor industry to source the high-performance chips AI depends on, Brad Lightcap, the company’s COO, indicated during an interview with Nikkei in Tokyo on Monday.

High-performance graphics processing units are essential for the learning process of generative AI. But supplies of these GPUs from Nvidia, which controls about 80% of the market, are tight, and Lightcap says it is “really important” that the industry avoids a shortage as he expects “demand to be robust into the next few years.”