Chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and ChatGPT developer OpenAI announced on Monday a landmark strategic partnership, signing a letter of intent for what stands as the single largest investment in AI history. Nvidia plans to invest up to $100 billion to power OpenAI’s next-generation AI infrastructure with data centers capable of delivering at least 10 gigawatts of compute power—equivalent to a massive cluster of 4 to 5 million GPUs.
The two companies aim to finalize details in the coming weeks, with the first deployment phase targeted to go online in the second half of 2026.
Although structured as an investment, the capital is expected to flow back to Nvidia as OpenAI will use the funds to purchase Nvidia’s chips and systems. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang described the partnership as monumental in scale, noting that the 10-gigawatt compute requirement alone surpasses the company’s total expected GPU shipments for all of 2024. The move comes just days after Nvidia committed $5 billion to struggling chipmaker Intel, underscoring its strategic push to secure key segments of the AI supply chain.
Investors cheered the news, sending Nvidia’s stock up as much as 5.3% during Monday’s trading session before closing 3.93% higher, boosting its market capitalization past $4.3 trillion. Oracle, a partner in the $500 billion “Stargate” AI data center project that also includes OpenAI, SoftBank, and Microsoft, saw its shares jump nearly 5%, signaling strong market confidence in AI infrastructure alliances.
Huang emphasized that the deal represents additive demand beyond everything that’s been announced and contracted, reassuring investors of sustained growth momentum.
Everything starts with compute, said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a statement. Compute infrastructure will be the basis for the economy of the future. The collaboration highlights the intensifying race among tech giants to secure scarce energy and chip resources essential for AI development. With Microsoft, SoftBank, and others heavily investing in data center projects, global AI infrastructure expansion has entered a phase resembling an arms race.
Analysts suggest the partnership will further solidify Nvidia’s dominance in the AI chip market, where it maintains gross margins near 70%, while providing OpenAI with the foundational compute power needed to develop its next-generation AI models.
