Nvidia commits about $90bn to AI deals and partnerships in 16 months

In short: Nvidia has committed roughly $90bn to deals over the past 16 months, backing many AI companies that rely on its chips.

What's going on

Nvidia, the chip company led by Jensen Huang, has been spending heavily on investments and partnerships linked to artificial intelligence. The Financial Times reports Nvidia committed about $47bn in the year to January 25, then earmarked another $43bn in the four months after that.

The spending covers more than 145 companies. These range from firms building AI models to cloud providers and suppliers that make parts used in data centres. A data centre is a warehouse full of computers that run online services.

Some deals are designed to make other companies’ products work smoothly with Nvidia’s own technology. One example is NVLink, a Nvidia connection system that helps chips talk to each other faster (like giving computers a wider, quicker set of roads). Nvidia invested in SiFive after an agreement to make SiFive designs compatible with NVLink, according to SiFive’s CEO. Nvidia also invested $2bn in Marvell alongside a partnership to make future custom chips compatible with NVLink, the report said.

The company is also supporting newer cloud firms like CoreWeave and Iren, which rent out Nvidia-powered computing. In Iren’s case, Nvidia agreed to spend $3.4bn over five years renting GPU capacity and could invest up to $2.1bn in the company.

What to watch

This level of dealmaking can help Nvidia sell more chips and keep partners close, but it also brings risks. Nvidia said regulators in the US, EU, and UK have asked for information about its investments and partnerships. As Nvidia keeps funding suppliers and customers at the same time, expect more questions about competition and conflicts of interest.

Source: Financial Times