Nvidia saw its stock price stumble on Monday morning as investors reacted to reports that its massive $100 billion investment in OpenAI might be on shaky ground. By late morning, the semiconductor giant’s shares had dropped 1.1%. This slide started after the Wall Street Journal published a story suggesting that the high-profile deal faced some unexpected hurdles and uncertainty.
Last September, Nvidia made waves when it announced plans to build a staggering 10 gigawatts of computing power for OpenAI. At the time, the company also teased an investment that could reach as high as $100 billion. However, the recent report claimed that Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, told industry insiders late last year that the agreement was nonbinding and far from finished. The report even suggested that Huang felt OpenAI lacked business discipline and worried about the rising strength of rivals like Google and Anthropic.
Huang quickly stepped in to set the record straight over the weekend. He dismissed the rumors of his dissatisfaction as “nonsense” and reaffirmed his support for the AI startup. While he confirmed that the investment would not exceed the $100 billion mark, he spoke highly of the company and its leadership. Huang called OpenAI one of the most consequential firms of our era and expressed his personal respect for its CEO, Sam Altman.
“Sam is closing the round, and we will absolutely be involved,” Huang told Bloomberg. He promised that the firm would still pour a “great deal of money” into the project, noting that it would likely stand as the largest investment Nvidia has ever made. He emphasized that he loves working with Altman and believes the work OpenAI does is incredible.
Despite Huang’s attempt to calm the waters, the initial report clearly spooked some traders. The tech world is watching closely because the partnership between the world’s most valuable chipmaker and the leader in generative AI sets the pace for the entire industry. For now, the market seems to be waiting for a finalized, signed deal before it regains full confidence in the stock’s direction.
