NVIDIA hits $40bn in AI equity bets, led by $30bn OpenAI stake
▼ Summary
– NVIDIA has committed over $40 billion to AI equity investments in the first four months.
– $30 billion of that total went to OpenAI, with the rest spread across CoreWeave, IREN, Corning, Nebius, and roughly two dozen private rounds.
– The investment pattern resembles vertical integration more than traditional venture investing.
– This approach is starting to raise questions about potential circular deals.
NVIDIA has poured over $40 billion into AI equity investments during the first four months of this year, with a staggering $30 billion allocated to OpenAI. The remaining capital is distributed across a portfolio that includes CoreWeave, IREN, Corning, Nebius, and roughly two dozen private funding rounds.
This aggressive spending pattern looks less like traditional venture capital and more like vertical integration by stealth. As NVIDIA places massive bets on both infrastructure providers and AI leaders, the strategy is drawing scrutiny. Critics point to a growing web of circular deals, where NVIDIA invests in companies that, in turn, spend heavily on NVIDIA chips and cloud services.
The sheer scale of these commitments signals a shift in how the chipmaker views its role in the AI ecosystem. Rather than simply selling hardware, NVIDIA is now a dominant financial stakeholder in the very companies driving AI demand. The question lingering over this approach is whether it will fuel sustainable growth or create a feedback loop that regulators may eventually challenge.
(Source: The Next Web)
