OpenAI bought a batch of patents from Rain AI, the Sam Altman-backed chip startup that has now all but closed, according to Stephanie Palazzolo at The Information. Altman backed Rain’s 2018 seed round, and OpenAI signed a nonbinding letter of intent the next year to buy $51 million of Rain’s chips once they shipped, but never took any because the deal hinged on a successful pilot. Rain hit fundraising trouble in February 2025 and approached OpenAI about a sale. Richard Ho, then OpenAI’s head of hardware, told Rain executives OpenAI didn’t want the intellectual property but might want the staff, and had them rank every employee in a spreadsheet. OpenAI never made the hires, Rain cut nearly its entire workforce that June, and OpenAI bought the patents months later at an undisclosed price. Don’t worry though — Sam Altman doesn’t have any equity in OpenAI so his intentions are pure!
