In Nvidia’s latest quarterly report, released Wednesday, revenue more than doubled to $30 billion
Nvidia Corp., the world’s largest chipmaker, has discussed participating in a funding round for OpenAI that would value the artificial intelligence startup at more than $100 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have also been in discussions about participating in the financing, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. The round would be led by Thrive Capital, which is investing about $1 billion, Bloomberg reported earlier this week. Nvidia has discussed investing about $100 million, two of the people said.
If discussions continue, it would mean the three most valuable tech companies all back OpenAI, maker of the groundbreaking ChatGPT chatbot. Microsoft was already OpenAI’s largest backer, with an investment of about $13 billion.
Representatives from Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, OpenAI and Thrive all declined to comment.
Big Tech’s influence on artificial intelligence is coming under increasing scrutiny, with regulators in both the EU and US raising concerns about Nvidia’s dominance in AI chips and Microsoft’s close relationship with OpenAI. Microsoft has tightly integrated OpenAI’s services into its Windows and Copilot AI platforms – a bet that its capabilities will help drive growth.
Apple also has existing ties with OpenAI. The iPhone maker is adding ChatGPT to its new suite of AI features, called Apple Intelligence. The company was also set to take a board seat at OpenAI – alongside Microsoft – but those plans were scrapped in July.
Nvidia, meanwhile, provides the critical infrastructure needed to develop and run AI tools like ChatGPT. It is the largest maker of so-called AI accelerators, sales of which have soared in the past two years.
In Nvidia’s latest quarterly report, released Wednesday, revenue more than doubled to $30 billion. It forecast even bigger sales in the current quarter, higher than average analyst estimates, although investors have become so accustomed to the huge results that shares still fell.
OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar told employees in a memo Wednesday that the company was looking for new capital, without providing details, according to people familiar with the matter. The company has been in talks since December to raise financing at a valuation of $100 billion or more, Bloomberg reports.
The funding would strengthen one of the world’s most valuable venture-backed startups. ChatGPT’s overwhelming success has also sparked an arms race among tech companies, which are integrating AI technology into their products and funding other promising startups.
In its memo to employees, Friar said OpenAI would use the funding to acquire more computing power and fund other operating costs, the people said.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported on the discussions with Apple.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)