From Partners to Powerhouses: Nvidia’s $100B Stake in OpenAI Signals New AI Era

A landmark agreement has been signed that will see Nvidia invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI, transforming a long-standing partnership into a deeply integrated alliance. In exchange for its financial and hardware muscle, Nvidia will receive equity in OpenAI, solidifying its position at the core of the AI software leader’s future. The collaboration is focused on a singular, ambitious goal: deploying 10 gigawatts of computing power to pioneer “super-intelligence.”
The investment’s structure demonstrates a pragmatic and ambitious timeline. The first $10 billion is tied to the deployment of the first gigawatt of power, a clear signal that the partners are focused on rapid execution. This phased approach de-risks the massive investment while ensuring that capital flows as concrete infrastructure goals are met, creating a powerful incentive for swift progress.
Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO, celebrated the deal as a pivotal moment in their shared history. “Nvidia and OpenAI have pushed each other for a decade,” he remarked, tracing their collaboration from the first DGX supercomputer to the triumph of ChatGPT. This new investment, he explained, represents the next great leap in their joint mission to build the foundational technology for a new age of intelligence.
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and CEO, reiterated his core belief in the primacy of computational power. “Compute infrastructure will be the basis for the economy of the future,” he asserted. For Altman, this deal is about securing the essential resources needed to overcome past limitations and to continue pushing the boundaries of AI research, ultimately creating novel breakthroughs.
The project’s initial phase is scheduled to come online in the second half of 2026, running on Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin platform. This strategic move ensures OpenAI will have preferential access to the world’s most advanced chips, a critical advantage in the highly competitive AI space. The partnership is a direct response to the massive computational needs of servicing and building products for its hundreds of millions of users.