Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang moved to quash reports of a rupture with OpenAI on Saturday, saying the chipmaker “definitely” will participate in the artificial‑intelligence startup’s latest fundraising round, while rejecting suggestions that Nvidia would commit anywhere near $100 billion.
Huang described OpenAI as one of the most influential companies of the era and praised CEO Sam Altman, saying Nvidia was “very willing” to invest. He declined to disclose a precise figure but hinted the contribution could be the largest single investment in Nvidia’s history, while adding it would not “reach or approach” the extraordinary sum that recent reporting had suggested.
The remarks were a direct response to a report that negotiations over a previously announced memorandum of intent — under which Nvidia and OpenAI discussed a phased investment potentially reaching $100 billion to fund new data centres and AI infrastructure tied to Nvidia hardware — had stalled amid internal concern at Nvidia. Nvidia has told the media it remains OpenAI’s “preferred partner” and expects to continue working closely with the startup, though the company has not published negotiation details.
The broader financing drive for OpenAI has attracted attention from multiple technology companies. The startup’s own target for the round is reported at up to $100 billion, and sources have indicated Amazon has discussed an up‑to‑$50 billion investment alongside enhanced compute deals. Nvidia itself has recently stepped up visible strategic investments into cloud providers such as CoreWeave, a move that has drawn scrutiny as part of a wider pattern where suppliers take equity stakes in customers.
Huang pushed back on criticism that such arrangements represent problematic “circular transactions,” calling that characterization “absurd” and noting investments like the CoreWeave deal are a small part of broader financing. Still, the episode highlights tensions at the heart of the AI stack: a handful of firms control critical compute hardware, and deep financial ties between chip vendors, cloud providers and AI developers could reshape market dynamics and raise governance, competition and regulatory questions.
For the international audience, the key fact is that while the headline‑grabbing $100 billion figure appears exaggerated, the strategic alignment between Nvidia and OpenAI is intact and likely to deepen. Any sizable Nvidia commitment would bind the two companies more tightly: it would ensure privileged hardware access for OpenAI and reinforce Nvidia’s centrality to the AI ecosystem, even as rivals such as Amazon and long‑standing partners press for their own roles in building the next generation of AI infrastructure.