Nvidia wants to invest $30 billion in OpenAI, despite doubts about an earlier deal

Chip manufacturer Nvidia, the most valuable company in the world, is in talks to invest up to $30 billion in OpenAI. CNBC reports this based on an insider source. The investment would be part of a new financing round that values ​​OpenAI at $730 billion before the investment.

Old $100 billion deal in disarray

In September, Nvidia and OpenAI announced a massive infrastructure deal. Over several years, Nvidia would invest in building AI data centers powered by its own chips.

That agreement had a clear structure. Nvidia would only invest money in OpenAI once new supercomputers were operational. For example, the first $10 billion would be released when one gigawatt of computing power was achieved. That is comparable to the power consumption of a large city.

But in January, The Wall Street Journal reported that this deal was “on ice.” Nvidia also wrote in its quarterly report in November that there was “no guarantee” that definitive agreements would be reached regarding the OpenAI opportunity.

New investment is separate from this

The possible investment of 30 billion dollars is separate from this. According to CNBC, this is not part of the $100 billion infrastructure deal and nor is it linked to milestones such as data centers or gigawatts.

This concerns direct participation in a new funding round from OpenAI. That round could total up to $100 billion, with parties such as Microsoft and Amazon in addition to Nvidia.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on CNBC earlier this month that there is “no doubt” the company will invest in the next round of OpenAI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote on X that he does not understand “where all the madness comes from” surrounding alleged tensions between the companies.

The $30 billion figure has not yet been finalized and details may change. But it is clear that Nvidia does not want to let go of its position with OpenAI.