OpenAI seen as buyer of Broadcom's $10B one-time AI server order

Broadcom said on Thursday that an unnamed customer placed a one time order worth about $10 billion for AI server racks built around the company's custom chips, and people familiar with the matter identified the buyer as OpenAI. The disclosure, made during Broadcom's quarterly earnings call, underscores rising demand for specialized processors and comes as AI developers and cloud operators seek alternatives to Nvidia GPUs that have been in short supply.

Broadcom told investors the order represents a fourth major AI customer for its custom accelerator business but did not publicly name the purchaser. People familiar with the matter identified OpenAI as the buyer. Analysts and market observers say the deal, if finalized with OpenAI, would mark a significant step in efforts by leading model developers to diversify their hardware supply chains and lower costs for inference workloads.

Chief Executive Hock Tan told analysts on the call that the new orders were generating "immediate and pretty substantial demand" and the company revised its fiscal 2026 AI revenue outlook upward. Broadcom reported AI semiconductor sales of about $5.2 billion in the most recent quarter and guided to...