Ultraman Warns of Global Compute Shortage, OpenAI Launches 1-3 Year Compute Lease with Discount

According to Orbit Beating monitoring, the large model competition is evolving into a direct scramble for underlying physical computing power. OpenAI has introduced a "Compute Guarantee" service, where companies can lock in access to computing power by committing to funding for 1 to 3 years, and receive Token tiered discounts based on the commitment amount.

CEO Sam Altman has issued a warning that as large models become more powerful, global computing power will be constrained in the long term. With the issue of funding looming large, this long-term arrangement is essentially a mutually beneficial agreement: companies spend money to secure stable computing power for AI agents and production systems, while OpenAI receives funds upfront to better plan and expand next-generation infrastructure.

This plan has a clear physical limit on the amount. Sam Altman has clearly stated that once the allocated capacity is sold out, sales will stop, and sufficient computing power must be retained at the base level to prioritize ensuring the normal operation of proprietary core products such as ChatGPT and Codex.