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.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week recorded an increase in the number of shareholders to the highest in almost eight months, despite its share price falling 3.38 percent from the previous week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data released on Saturday showed. As of Friday, TSMC had 1.88 million shareholders, the most since the week of April 25 and an increase of 31,870 from the previous week, the data showed. The number of shareholders jumped despite a drop of NT$50 (US$1.59), or 3.38 percent, in TSMC’s share price from a week earlier to NT$1,430, as investors took profits from their earlier gains
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
INFLATION CONSIDERATION: The BOJ governor said that it would ‘keep making appropriate decisions’ and would adjust depending on the economy and prices The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in 30 years and said more increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, in a sign of growing conviction that it can attain the stable inflation target it has pursued for more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s policy board increased the rate by 0.2 percentage points to 0.75 percent, in a unanimous decision, the bank said in a statement. The central bank cited the rising likelihood of its economic outlook being realized. The rate change was expected by all 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The
RSS