Nvidia’s planned US$100 billion (A$142.6 billion) investment in OpenAI has reportedly stalled, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang saying the deal was not a firm commitment.
The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding in September for OpenAI to build at least 10 gigawatts of artificial intelligence data centres using Nvidia’s chips, with Nvidia providing up to $100 billion in funding.
“It was never a commitment,” Huang said over the weekend. “They invited us to invest up to $100 billion and of course, we were very happy and honoured that they invited us, but we will invest one step at a time.”
Under the deal, the first phase of these data centres would have been deployed in the second half of 2026. Talks have largely not progressed since the partnership was announced, per the Wall Street Journal.
Huang has also reportedly criticised a lack of discipline in OpenAI’s business endeavours and voiced concern about growing competition from Google and Anthropic.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees the company would need to quickly improve the quality of its ChatGPT chatbot after Google’s latest Gemini AI model surpassed it on several industry benchmark tests, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.
Nvidia still plans to invest in OpenAI during its next funding round, Huang said, although the company has not disclosed the amount.
“We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang said over the weekend. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible.”
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) shares closed 0.7% lower at $191.13, and dipped a further 0.5% after-hours. Its market capitalisation is $4.64 trillion.
