Nvidia Considers Unusual Offer on Behalf of OpenAI

Nvidia is cooking up a deal that the Wall Street Journal calls "one of the most ambitious financial transactions yet in America's artificial-intelligence boom." No, it's not about the invention of a powerful new chip—it's about financing. Nvidia is reportedly negotiating to guarantee up to $250 billion in financing for OpenAI as part of an enormous Ohio data-center project. The backing would give the ChatGPT maker the credit support it needs to lease a site owned by Japanese investment giant SoftBank. The talks are advanced but not final, and highlight how AI infrastructure is increasingly being built through complex, interlocking financial arrangements.

OpenAI has reportedly been in serious talks for weeks to lease the site, and Nvidia's backing could help seal the deal. Of course, Nvidia would seem to have a clear incentive: If OpenAI lands the lease, it's expected to fill the facility with Nvidia AI chips. In effect, Nvidia would be helping finance a customer that, in turn, buys Nvidia products. The entire project is a complex one: The Journal notes that the project's power supply is controlled by the US government but "funded separately by Japan under a recent trade agreement." Read the full story.