Investment Deal Remains Unfinalized After Five Months
Last September, a significant $100 billion investment deal between OpenAI and NVIDIA was announced. However, five months later, reports indicate that neither funds nor products have been exchanged. Ars Technica suggests the plan has not materialized as initially described. NVIDIA has clarified that the $100 billion figure was an aspiration or rough estimate, not a firm commitment. Several factors likely contribute to the delay, including the substantial power demands for expanding OpenAI’s infrastructure with new NVIDIA hardware. The initial proposal outlined up to 10 gigawatts of new NVIDIA systems for OpenAI, necessitating the construction of numerous new power stations. The rapid expansion of the AI sector has significantly affected the availability of specialized components needed for traditional power plant construction. Building a new nuclear power station, for instance, involves a lengthy lead time, far exceeding a five-month period.
Rumors also suggest that OpenAI may have reservations about the inference task speed of NVIDIA hardware, and that NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has expressed concerns regarding OpenAI’s business strategy. While these rumors remain unvalidated, Huang has publicly denied his concerns. Both NVIDIA and OpenAI maintain that the deal is still active, though its final scope is expected to be smaller than the initial estimate.
