NVIDIA's deal with OpenAI was known to be one of the largest commitments to the AI lab; however, an agreement still hasn't been reached, and Jensen is now a bit skeptical.
NVIDIA's CEO Has "Privately Criticized" OpenAI's Business Approach, Raising Questions On the $100 Billion Deal
NVIDIA had committed to the OpenAI deal a few months ago, and Team Green announced to supply "multi-GW" of compute power in a $100 billion deal, which is by far the largest investment into the AI lab, which is now eying an IPO. The arrangement back then took the industry by storm, especially since OpenAI became one of the very first Vera Rubin customers, and in particular, it marked the beginning of NVIDIA's investing spree into frontier AI companies. However, it seems the "glamour" around the deal is now fading.
According to a WSJ report, NVIDIA still hasn't finalized its arrangement with OpenAI, and, more importantly, CEO Jensen Huang believes that Sam Altman and his team have a "lack of discipline in business approach". More importantly, NVIDIA believes that OpenAI's competitors, notably Anthropic and Google, are becoming much more competitive, suggesting the AI giant isn't committed enough to the AI frenzy. It's important to note that in a prior 10-Q filing, NVIDIA disclosed that its deal with OpenAI is a "non-binding" agreement and that there is no assurance it will proceed.
It appears that when Jensen talks about "lack of discipline", it could mean multiple factors, since when you look at the applications layer, OpenAI's GPT ecosystem isn't getting the spotlight it used to. Across the industry, Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.5 and the applications around it are getting attention, and similarly, Google's Gemini has made significant advancements. Meanwhile, OpenAI is in a rather challenging position, as the company now explores rolling out advertisements within its chat application.
There's no doubt that companies are rushing to make commitments with OpenAI in recent times, mainly since Sam Altman is reportedly targeting an IPO this year, but when you look at the broader prospect, OpenAI is losing the race in the 'applications' layer of AI as a technology right now. NVIDIA might be monitoring whether the commitments being made by OpenAI will actually materialize, which is why the cautionary statement regarding the future of these investment deals, as mentioned in the 10-Q, makes sense.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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