Nvidia Corp is to invest as much as US$100 billion in OpenAI to support new data centers and other artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, a blockbuster deal that underscores booming demand for AI tools like ChatGPT and the computing power needed to make them run.
The companies announced the agreement on Monday, saying they had signed a letter of intent for a strategic deal.
The investment is meant to help OpenAI build data centers with a capacity of at least 10 gigawatts — equipped with Nvidia’s advanced chips to train and deploy AI models.
Photo: Reuters
The money would be provided in stages, with the first US$10 billion coming when the deal is signed, people familiar with the matter said.
Nvidia is making the investment in cash and would receive OpenAI equity as part of the deal, the people said.
Further increments would follow when each gigawatt of computing power is deployed, they added.
“This investment and infrastructure partnership mark the next leap forward — deploying 10 gigawatts to power the next era of intelligence,” Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said in a statement.
Ten gigawatts is equivalent to the peak electricity demand of New York City.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that the Nvidia deal would lead to new AI breakthroughs by securing the necessary computing power.
“Everything starts with compute,” Altman said in the statement. “Compute infrastructure will be the basis for the economy of the future.”
OpenAI’s ChatGPT is used by roughly 700 million people weekly and takes an intensive amount of computing power to service and build its products.
The company has faced computing constraints in its ability to meet customer demand, particularly around new releases.
On Sunday, Altman posted on social media that his company would be launching some new “compute-intensive” product offerings in the next few weeks.
Nvidia and OpenAI did not provide details on the investment in OpenAI or when it would occur.
In their announcement of the deal, the companies said they “look forward to finalizing the details of this new phase of strategic partnership in the coming weeks.”
The project would encompass as many as 5 million of Nvidia’s chips, Huang said, with the number equal to what the company is expected to ship this year.
He called it a “giant project” in an interview on CNBC.
In a separate statement, Nvidia said that the OpenAI deal would not mean that other customers get lower priority.
“Our investments will not change our focus or impact supply to our other customers,” the company said. “We will continue to make every customer a top priority, with or without any equity stake.”
Nvidia ended its most recent quarter with US$56.8 billion of cash and equivalents.
Nvidia chief financial officer Colette Kress this month said that Nvidia would use its growing financial strength to help speed up the deployment and use of AI computing.
PERSISTENT RUMORS: Nvidia’s CEO said the firm is not in talks to sell AI chips to China, but he would welcome a change in US policy barring the activity Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company is not in discussions to sell its Blackwell artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese firms, waving off speculation it is trying to engineer a return to the world’s largest semiconductor market. Huang, who arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of meetings with longtime partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), took the opportunity to clarify recent comments about the US-China AI race. The Nvidia head caused a stir in an interview this week with the Financial Times, in which he was quoted as saying “China will win” the AI race. Huang yesterday said
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
MORE WEIGHT: The national weighting was raised in one index while holding steady in two others, while several companies rose or fell in prominence MSCI Inc, a global index provider, has raised Taiwan’s weighting in one of its major indices and left the country’s weighting unchanged in two other indices after a regular index review. In a statement released on Thursday, MSCI said it has upgraded Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country World Index by 0.02 percentage points to 2.25 percent, while maintaining the weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the most closely watched by foreign institutional investors, at 20.46 percent. Additionally, the index provider has left Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index unchanged at 23.15 percent. The latest index adjustments are to
RSS