Nvidia Corp. has halted discussions to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI after negotiations collapsed, a development that could reshape power dynamics across the global artificial intelligence ecosystem.
Talks between Nvidia Corp. and OpenAI over a potential investment of as much as $100 billion have broken down, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The setback highlights a possible strategic divergence between two of the most influential companies driving the AI revolution.
The Journal reported that negotiations stalled after some executives inside Nvidia raised concerns about the transaction, citing people familiar with the internal deliberations. While OpenAI develops the widely used chatbot ChatGPT, Nvidia dominates the market for AI processors that power large-scale model training and inference.
The two companies had publicly revealed their intentions in September, announcing that they had signed a letter of intent for a strategic partnership.
At the time, the proposed $100 billion investment was intended to fund new data centres and large-scale AI infrastructure, built using Nvidia’s hardware and components. The ambition was to develop 10 gigawatts of computing power, described as being equivalent to the peak electricity demand of New York City.
Such a project would have ranked among the largest AI infrastructure initiatives ever proposed.
Despite the collapse of talks, Nvidia sought to underline its continued relationship with OpenAI. In a statement to Bloomberg News on Friday, the company said, “We have been OpenAI’s preferred partner for the last 10 years. We look forward to continuing to work together.”
However, Nvidia did not comment on the current state of negotiations or whether talks could resume in the future. A representative for OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the Wall Street Journal, both sides are now re-evaluating the partnership model. One possible scenario could involve Nvidia investing tens of billions of dollars, rather than the originally discussed $100 billion, as part of OpenAI’s ongoing funding round.
OpenAI is reportedly seeking to raise up to $100 billion in this round to support its expanding compute needs as competition in generative AI intensifies.
The funding round has drawn interest from other tech giants. Amazon.com Inc. is reportedly in talks to invest as much as $50 billion in OpenAI, while expanding an existing agreement to provide computer power to the AI company, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
This reflects a broader industry trend where cloud providers combine capital investments with long-term infrastructure supply agreements to secure strategic influence.
Even as talks with OpenAI faltered, Nvidia continues to make high-profile investments across the AI ecosystem. Earlier this week, the company announced plans to invest an additional $2 billion in CoreWeave Inc., a cloud computing provider that is also one of Nvidia’s customers.
Such deals reinforce Nvidia’s central role in the AI supply chain, from chip design to cloud-based deployment.
These types of transactions — where a company invests in firms that also purchase its products — have fueled debate over the sustainability of the AI boom.
Critics argue that such circular deals could inflate demand artificially. Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang, however, has dismissed those concerns.
Following the CoreWeave investment, Huang said such deals represent only a small fraction of the capital companies will need to raise. “So the idea that it is circular is — it’s ridiculous,” he said.
The breakdown of Nvidia’s $100 billion investment talks with OpenAI underscores the growing complexity of AI partnerships, where capital allocation, governance concerns, and long-term strategic control are becoming increasingly sensitive issues.
While collaboration between Nvidia and OpenAI is expected to continue in some form, the episode highlights that even the most powerful AI alliances are subject to reassessment as the industry matures.