Nvidia Makes a $30 Billion OpenAI Equity Investment as the AI Race Intensifies

The AI race is accelerating, and Nvidia is making sure it has a seat at the most important table. A $30 billion equity investment in OpenAI — part of a $100 billion funding round at a $730 billion valuation — cements Nvidia’s financial stake in the company most associated with the AI revolution, even as the competitive landscape around that company grows increasingly complex.
Amazon, SoftBank, and Microsoft are all expected to join Nvidia as investors in the round. The combination of these companies investing in OpenAI at a $730 billion valuation reflects not just financial confidence but strategic alignment: each of these companies has business reasons to want OpenAI to succeed, and each is willing to put significant capital behind that interest.
Nvidia’s previous investment approach — a $100 billion deal tied to OpenAI’s chip purchases — had collapsed after it was confirmed to be non-binding and after OpenAI announced chip partnerships with AMD and Broadcom. The circular structure of the original arrangement attracted immediate criticism and ultimately proved unsustainable.
The new investment is different in every important way. Nvidia holds equity without any chip purchase requirement. The investment is genuine rather than circular. The governance concerns that attended the original deal are absent. And the financial relationship between the two companies is now one of investor and portfolio company rather than vendor and customer.
The competitive landscape that surrounds OpenAI makes this investment particularly interesting. Anthropic has raised $30 billion at roughly half of OpenAI’s valuation and is gaining in enterprise software — the most valuable AI market segment. ChatGPT’s market share has fallen significantly. Cash burn is high. Advertising is controversial. These challenges make OpenAI’s $730 billion valuation a significant act of faith — one that Nvidia is now part of.