Nvidia nears deal to invest $20 billion in OpenAI funding round, source says

Feb 3 (Reuters) – Nvidia is nearing a deal to invest roughly $20 billion in OpenAI as part of its latest funding round, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI is looking to raise up to $100 billion in its latest funding round, valuing it at about $830 billion, Reuters had reported last week.

Companies including Amazon and SoftBank Group Corp are racing to forge partnerships with OpenAI, betting that closer ties with the artificial-intelligence startup would give them a competitive edge in the AI race.

The Nvidia-OpenAI deal is not finalised yet, the source said.

Bloomberg News reported earlier in the day that Nvidia was nearing a deal with OpenAI.

The news comes days after the Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia’s September plan to invest $100 billion in OpenAI and supply it with data center chips had stalled after the chipmaker expressed doubts about the deal.

The deal had been expected to close within weeks but negotiations have dragged on for months.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has denied claims he was unhappy with the ChatGPT maker and said on Saturday that the company plans to make a “huge” investment in OpenAI, probably its largest ever.

Huang also told CNBC earlier on Tuesday that Nvidia would consider investing in OpenAI’s next fundraising round and the startup’s eventual initial public offering.

Reuters reported on Monday that OpenAI is unsatisfied with some of Nvidia’s latest AI chips, and it has sought alternatives since last year, potentially complicating their relationship.

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said after the Reuters report that Nvidia makes “the best AI chips in the world” and that the company hopes to remain a “gigantic customer for a very long time”.

(Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru, Carlos Méndez in Mexico City, Deepa Seetharaman in San Francisco; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Subhranshu Sahu)