Jensen Huang is feeling spendy. In the span of a few weeks, the Nvidia CEO has committed billions to deals and investments — with more potentially right around the corner.
The spending spree shows how far Nvidia is expanding beyond chips and raises a bigger question: how much of the AI ecosystem does it want a hand in?
Nvidia said in its earnings report on Wednesday that it has $18 billion committed to equity investments for the rest of the fiscal year, with a focus on AI model makers, infrastructure financiers, and other private companies.
It held $47.9 billion in private companies as of late July — more than double the $22.3 billion it held at the end of the last fiscal year
Many of these deals aren't outright acquisitions. Luke Lango, chief technology analyst at InvestorPlace, said that licensing technology, hiring talent, and taking minority stakes can help avoid some of the regulatory scrutiny and integration headaches that can accompany an acquisition.
Nvidia is spreading its bets
Nvidia's expansion comes as some of its biggest customers are moving onto its turf. As Amazon, Google, and Microsoft build their own chips, Nvidia is pushing further into the infrastructure, software, and models that surround them.
In August, Nvidia announced it had invested $1.5 billion in SB Energy and taken a stake in Cloverleaf Infrastructure — two companies helping to solve the land and power crunch posed by data centers.
On the financing front, it teamed up with Wall Street firms to raise more than $500 billion in outside funding for AI infrastructure.
It also struck a multibillion-dollar deal with coding startup Poolside and is reportedly eyeing investments or deals with the AI search startup Perplexity and Korean inference chip startup Rebellions.
Nvidia disclosed Wednesday that it made a $2.94 billion cash payment related to its deal with AI hardware startup Groq, announced in December.
The aggressive dealmaking comes with risks — and feeds a familiar criticism about circular financing.
"Nvidia is now supplier, financer, and shareholder to many of the same companies buying its chips," Lango said, "so a slowdown would hit its own revenue and its equity stakes at once."
On the earnings call on Wednesday, Nvidia chief financial officer Colette Kress said that while some say the company is doing circular financing, "we see it differently."
"We believe these investments, measured against the strength of their demand, the business they create for us, the ecosystem they build on Nvidia's platform, and the equity returns on our invested capital, will be excellent, and our risk is limited," Kress said on the call.
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Geoff Weiss is a senior reporter on Business Insider’s tech team, where he writes about AI startups and Y Combinator, the intersection of AI and the media industry, and workplace dynamics within top AI labs and chip companies.Previously, Geoff was on the media desk, covering YouTube and Netflix, and themes like the intersection of Hollywood and the creator economy. His work on Netflix’s video podcasting ambitions and Mr Beast’s lessons for Hollywood won second and first prize, respectively, at the 2025 LA Press Club Awards.Prior to joining Business Insider, Geoff was the senior editor of Tubefilter and a staff writer at Entrepreneur. He graduated from New York University with a degree in English Literature.He can be reached at [email protected], on Signal @geoffweiss.25, and on LinkedIn. Have a tip? Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.Selected stories:Nvidia crushed its quarter — and CEO Jensen Huang said in a leaked all-hands that 'the market did not appreciate it'Nvidia will foot the bill for Trump's new visa fees. Here's what CEO Jensen Huang told staff.Massive AI salaries and RTO are fueling a real estate boom in San Francisco: 'It's going to rain money'The AI talent wars are ricocheting across startups. Here's how they're competing with Big Tech.
