Nvidia plans to make a “huge” investment into OpenAI, probably its largest ever, CEO Jensen Huang said yesterday, denying he was unhappy with the ChatGPT maker.
The chipmaker in September announced plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI, a deal that would give OpenAI the cash and access it needs to buy advanced chips that are key to maintaining its dominance in an increasingly competitive landscape.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the plan had stalled after some inside the chip giant expressed doubts about the deal.
The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said the companies are rethinking the future of their partnership, and the latest discussions include an equity investment of tens of billions of dollars as part of OpenAI’s current funding round.
The report said Huang had privately underlined to industry associates in recent months that the original $100bn agreement was non-binding and not finalised.
Huang has also privately criticised what he has described as a lack of discipline in OpenAI’s business approach and expressed concern about the competition it faces from the likes of Alphabet’s Google and Anthropic, the WSJ said.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Huang said it was “nonsense” to say he was unhappy with OpenAI.
“We are going to make a huge investment in OpenAI. I believe in OpenAI, the work that they do is incredible, they are one of the most consequential companies of our time and I really love working with Sam,” he said, referring to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
“Sam is closing the round (of investment) and we will absolutely be involved,” Huang added. “We will invest a great deal of money, probably the largest investment we’ve ever made.”
Asked whether it would be over $100bn, he said: “No, no, nothing like that”.
It was up to Altman to announce how much he wanted to raise, Huang added.
Big Tech companies and investors such as SoftBank Group Corp are racing to forge partnerships with OpenAI – which is spending heavily on data centres – betting closer ties with the startup would give them a competitive edge in the AI race.
Amazon is in talks to invest dozens of billions in OpenAI and the figure could be as high as $50bn, Reuters reported on Thursday.
OpenAI is looking to raise up to $100bn in funding, valuing it at about $830bn, Reuters has previously reported.
Huang was speaking outside a Taipei restaurant having hosted all Nvidia’s key suppliers in Taiwan, including the world’s largest contract chipmaker TSMC, in what Taiwanese media called the “trillion-dollar dinner” because of the combined market capitalisation of those attending.
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