Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang said the company will participate in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.”
“We will invest a lot of money,” Huang told reporters during his visit to Taipei on Saturday. “I believe in OpenAI. The work they are doing is incredible. They are one of the most important companies of our time.” Huang did not specify the exact amount of contribution the company could make, but called the investment “huge.”
“Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s up to him,” Huang said, adding that Altman was closing out the round. “But we will definitely participate in the next round of funding because it is a very good investment.”
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that a plan announced by Nvidia in September to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI in total had stalled after some within the chip giant expressed doubts about the deal. Citing unidentified people familiar with the matter, the Journal reported that Huang privately stressed that the $100 billion deal was not binding, privately criticized what he described as a lack of discipline in OpenAI’s business approach and expressed concerns about competition.
Asked by a Taipei reporter about the report that seemed to suggest he wasn’t very happy with OpenAI, Jensen replied: “That’s absurd.” Huang said Nvidia’s contribution to OpenAI’s latest funding round would not approach $100 billion.
Nvidia’s massive investment commitment to OpenAI, a key buyer of its advanced AI chips, has fueled concerns about the circular nature of AI deals over the past year. Investors are increasingly wondering how these partnerships – in which technology companies invest in AI companies that buy their products – can artificially support demand. Under a separate agreement, Nvidia recently announced plans to invest an additional $2 billion in CoreWeave Inc., a cloud computing provider that is also a key customer.
As part of a letter of intent signed in September, Nvidia announced plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI to support new data centers and other artificial intelligence infrastructure. The deal was designed to help OpenAI build data centers with at least 10 gigawatts of power capacity – equivalent to New York City’s peak electricity demand – equipped with Nvidia’s advanced chips to train and deploy AI models.
OpenAI has sought to raise as much as $100 billion in its current funding round, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Amazon was in talks to invest up to $50 billion in fundraising and expanding a deal involving selling computing power to the AI startup, the person said Thursday.
Altman also met with major Middle East investors to arrange financing for the round, which could value the company between $750 billion and $830 billion, people familiar with the matter said earlier in January, while asking not to be identified because the information is not public. Microsoft Corp. is also in talks to participate, the news previously reported.
