Nvidia invests $100 billion in OpenAI to fuel its computing power

Chipmaker Nvidia will invest $100 billion (€85bn) in OpenAI as part of a partnership announced on Monday that will add at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia AI data centres to ramp up the computing power for the owner of the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT.

Per the letter of intent signed by the companies, the first gigawatt of Nvidia systems will be deployed in the second half of 2026. Nvidia and OpenAI said they would be finalising the details of the arrangement in the coming weeks.

"This partnership complements the deep work OpenAI and Nvidia are already doing with a broad network of collaborators, including Microsoft, Oracle, SoftBank and Stargate partners, focused on building the world's most advanced AI infrastructure," the companies said in a statement. Those companies pledged to invest at least $100bn in building data centres for OpenAI in January.

The Nvidia-OpenAI partnership also comes about 10 days after OpenAI said it had reached a new tentative agreement that will give Microsoft a $100 billion equity stake in its for-profit corporation. OpenAI is technically controlled by its nonprofit.

Speaking on CNBC, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the new data centres that Nvidia will build are in addition to the previously announced projects.

"Building this infrastructure is critical to everything we want to do," Altman said. "Without doing this, we cannot deliver the services people want. We can't keep making better models."

He said both Nvidia and Microsoft are "passive investors", and OpenAI's nonprofit and board controls the company.

Nvidia also announced that it was investing $5bn in fellow chipmaker Intel, which has struggled to keep up with the frenzied demand for artificial intelligence.

Concerns are growing around OpenAI

OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015, and its nonprofit board has continued to control the for-profit subsidiary that now develops and sells its AI products.

OpenAI's corporate structure and nonprofit mission are the subject of a lawsuit brought by Elon Musk, who helped found the nonprofit research lab and provided initial funding. Musk's suit seeks to stop OpenAI from taking control of the company away from its nonprofit and alleges it has betrayed its promise to develop AI for the benefit of humanity.

OpenAI says it has 700 million weekly active users.

Earlier this month, the attorneys general of California and Delaware warned OpenAI that they have "serious concerns" about the safety of ChatGPT, especially for children and teens.

The two state officials, who have unique powers to regulate nonprofits such as OpenAI, noted "deeply troubling reports of dangerous interactions between" chatbots and their users, including the suicide of one young Californian after he had prolonged interactions with an OpenAI chatbot. The parents of the 16-year-old California boy, who died in April, sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, last month.