The U.S. video platform Rumble is looking to buy the German AI cloud company Northern Data in a deal worth about $1.17 billion. Rumble’s main goal is to acquire Northern Data’s vast inventory of powerful Nvidia AI chips, which are crucial for the future of artificial intelligence.
If the deal goes through, Rumble would take control of Northern Data’s cloud unit, Taiga, which holds a massive stash of highly sought-after Nvidia GPUs, including over 20,000 H100s. It would also get Northern Data’s data center business, Ardent, which Rumble plans to integrate into its operations. Northern Data’s board said it is evaluating the offer and is open to more talks.
The current offer is a stock swap that values Northern Data at a significant discount to its current market price. However, both companies have said that a final offer would likely be higher. The deal also has the backing of a major player: Tether, the stablecoin platform, is Northern Data’s majority shareholder and has expressed its support for the transaction.
Before any deal can be finalized, Northern Data must first sell off its crypto mining business. The money from that sale would be used to pay back a loan from Tether. In return, Tether would become a major customer of the new, combined Rumble, signing a multi-year deal to purchase GPU services. While the talks are serious, both companies stressed that there is no guarantee a final deal will be made.
