Rumors Come True? Nvidia's $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI Ultimately "Cut by 70%"

Nvidia’s $100 billion investment deal with OpenAI may have been cut by a third.

According to the Financial Times in the UK on Friday, Nvidia is close to finalizing a $30 billion equity investment in OpenAI as part of a large funding round for the AI startup, marking a shift from a complex long-term commitment to a more direct capital arrangement. The report, citing sources familiar with the matter, states that Nvidia is in the final stages of negotiations with OpenAI, and the investment could be completed as early as this weekend.

As previously reported by Wallstreetcn, the initial $100 billion deal stalled due to internal concerns at Nvidia over the terms, with Jensen Huang privately emphasizing in recent months that the agreement was non-binding and not finalized.

This $30 billion equity investment is part of OpenAI’s larger funding plan. According to sources, the round is expected to raise over $100 billion, valuing OpenAI at $730 billion, excluding new capital injections. OpenAI will reinvest most of the new funds into Nvidia hardware, but the two sides will not proceed with the multi-year, $100 billion investment partnership announced last September.

From a complex agreement to a direct equity investment

The agreement announced last September, in the form of a letter of intent, closely linked the two core companies driving the AI boom and helped Nvidia’s market cap surpass $5 trillion within weeks.

Under the terms of the $100 billion agreement, Nvidia originally planned to invest in ten installments over several years, each worth $10 billion, in exchange for significant equity in the AI startup as OpenAI’s demand for computing power grew. In return, OpenAI planned to purchase millions of Nvidia AI processors to deploy up to 10 gigawatts of new computing capacity.

However, the deal never progressed from the memorandum of understanding to a formal agreement. It is reported that Jensen Huang privately criticized OpenAI for lacking commercial discipline and expressed concerns about pressure from competitors like Google and Anthropic. Now, this arrangement has been replaced by a more direct plan, with Nvidia investing up to $30 billion in exchange for OpenAI stock.

Sources close to both companies say this funding will support the construction of new exascale computing resources and may lead to further deals over time.

Publicly maintaining the partnership

Despite significant changes in the deal structure, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Jensen Huang have been trying to dispel reports of a cooling relationship between the two companies.

Earlier this month, Altman stated on X (formerly Twitter), “We love working with Nvidia. They make the best AI chips in the world. We hope to be their major customer for a long time.”

The next day, Huang told CNBC that any claims of “disputes” are “nonsense.” “We love working with OpenAI,” he said.

Sources familiar with the matter also say that the San Francisco-based startup is in the final stages of negotiations with SoftBank, which is also expected to invest $30 billion. Amazon may invest up to $50 billion as part of a broader partnership involving the use of OpenAI models. Abu Dhabi’s state-backed tech investment fund MGX and Microsoft are also expected to invest billions of dollars. OpenAI executives are meeting with venture capitalists and other investors this week to garner more interest.

One source said that during these meetings, OpenAI told investors they plan to spend about $600 billion on computing resources by 2030, including resources from Nvidia, Amazon, and Microsoft. The company believes securing extensive computing power will be the best defense against competitors and is working to lock in as much infrastructure and electricity supply as possible to meet the executives’ expectations of unlimited demand for AI tools.

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