Two things have changed in Nvidia’s relationship with OpenAI: the size of the investment (down from a proposed $100 billion to $30 billion) and the structure (from chip-linked to pure equity). Everything else — the fundamental conviction that OpenAI represents one of the most important bets in technology — appears to have stayed the same.
OpenAI’s funding round will reportedly raise approximately $100 billion at a $730 billion valuation. Amazon, SoftBank, and Microsoft are expected alongside Nvidia, making the investor list one of the most impressive ever assembled for a private company. The $730 billion figure places OpenAI just below SpaceX and nearly double Anthropic’s recent valuation.
The previous $100 billion deal had been structured around chip purchase commitments — a circular arrangement that generated enormous headlines before being confirmed as non-binding and quietly dissolved earlier this month. OpenAI’s subsequent announcement of chip partnerships with AMD and Broadcom further undermined the logic of the original deal, which had been premised on OpenAI’s hardware dependence on Nvidia.
What has not changed is Nvidia’s underlying view of OpenAI’s strategic importance. The chip maker is willing to put $30 billion into OpenAI’s equity despite the deal’s collapse, despite OpenAI’s chip diversification, and despite the genuine business challenges that face the company. The commitment level has been adjusted; the conviction has not.
The challenges are real. ChatGPT’s market share is falling. Anthropic is advancing in enterprise software. Cash burn is high. Advertising experiments are attracting competitive attacks. Multiple investors are hedging publicly. These are legitimate concerns that will need to be addressed. But Nvidia has apparently decided that these challenges do not change the fundamental long-term thesis — and it is willing to invest $30 billion to make that point.