Nvidia Commits Up to $100 Billion in OpenAI Partnership
Nvidia has announced plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI, alongside a commitment to supply the company with its advanced data centre chips. The move marks one of the most significant collaborations in artificial intelligence to date, bringing together two of the industry’s most influential players.
The deal is structured in two parts. Nvidia will purchase non-voting shares in OpenAI, while OpenAI will use the investment to buy Nvidia’s chips. This arrangement provides OpenAI with both funding and access to the compute power it needs to stay ahead in the competitive AI sector.
“Everything starts with compute,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. “With Nvidia, we will push new AI breakthroughs and bring them to people and businesses at scale.”
Building Massive AI Infrastructure
As part of the agreement, Nvidia and OpenAI signed a letter of intent to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia systems—enough computing power to serve more than 8 million US homes. Nvidia will make an initial $10 billion investment once the deal is finalised, with deliveries of its next-generation Vera Rubin platform set to begin in late 2026.
The announcement boosted Nvidia’s share price by as much as 4.4%, hitting a record intraday high. Oracle, which is partnering with OpenAI, SoftBank and Microsoft on a $500 billion AI data centre project called Stargate, also gained around 6%.
Analysts welcomed the deal but raised concerns about its structure. Some warned that Nvidia’s investment might ultimately flow back to the company through chip sales, fuelling debate over the circular nature of such arrangements.
Potential Scrutiny Over Market Power
The scale of Nvidia’s investment may draw regulatory attention. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission agreed in 2024 to explore the influence of Microsoft, OpenAI, and Nvidia in the AI industry. However, the Trump administration has so far taken a lighter stance on antitrust enforcement compared with its predecessor.
Legal experts suggest the deal could tighten Nvidia’s dominance in AI hardware while reinforcing OpenAI’s software lead. Such a combination may create obstacles for rivals like AMD in chips or competing AI model developers.
Despite the investment, OpenAI will continue its work on developing custom chips with Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Earlier this year, Reuters reported OpenAI’s plans to design its own hardware as a cheaper alternative to Nvidia’s offerings.
This partnership adds to a growing list of major technology tie-ups. Microsoft has invested billions in OpenAI since 2019, while Nvidia recently announced a $5 billion commitment to Intel and took part in a $6.6 billion OpenAI funding round in late 2024.
with inputs from Reuters