US-based Nvidia Corp. is discussing an investment of up to $30bn in AI startup OpenAI as part of an investment round with a potential valuation of the entire company at $730bn excluding raised funds (pre-money), CNBC reported, citing a source.
According to him, this investment is not part of the multi-year infrastructure agreement between the two companies announced in September 2025 and is not tied to any Nvidia product rollout targets, but Nvidia may invest in future rounds under the agreement. Financial Times sources say Nvidia is close to finalising the new investment and that it will replace the September deal. Back then, the chipmaker pledged to invest up to $100bn in OpenAI in tranches of $10bn as its data centre capacity came online. The partnership included the deployment of Nvidia systems for OpenAI’s next-generation AI infrastructure with a total power consumption of at least 10 GW.
In its most recent quarterly earnings released in November, Nvidia said there was “no assurance that we will enter into definitive agreements regarding the OpenAI opportunity or other potential investments.” In the same month, it entered into an agreement to invest up to $10bn in another AI startup, Anthropic. OpenAI, for its part, is also partnering with AMD and Broadcom (SPB: AVGO). Nvidia’s new filing will be released on 25 February.
The Wall Street Journal reported in January that Nvidia and OpenAI’s infrastructure deal had been “put on the brakes.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote on social network X that his company loves partnering with Nvidia and he doesn’t understand “where all this madness is coming from.”
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a February interview with CNBC that the chipmaker would definitely be involved in the new ChatGPT developer’s investrment.
According to FT’s sources, most of the capital raised by OpenAI is being reinvested in Nvidia products.
Bloomberg agency, citing sources, reported the day before that OpenAI is close to closing the first stage of a new investment round, during which it could raise more than $100bn. The total valuation of the company, taking into account new investments, could exceed $850bn, his sources said.
The first phase of funding will come mainly from OpenAI’s strategic investors, including Amazon, SoftBank, Nvidia and Microsoft, they said.
The first phase of the round could be finalised by the end of this month. Venture capital and sovereign wealth funds, as well as other financial institutions, will participate in the next stage, which will take place later. Their investments may significantly increase the total amount of funds raised.
Nvidia shares are down 0.1 per cent in early trading on Friday.