OpenAI and NVIDIA Announce Strategic Partnership to Deploy 10 Gigawatts of NVIDIA Systems

Rhea-AI Summary

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) and OpenAI have announced a groundbreaking strategic partnership to deploy 10 gigawatts of AI data centers with NVIDIA systems. As part of the agreement, NVIDIA plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI, with investments tied to each gigawatt deployment.

The first phase of deployment is scheduled for the second half of 2026 using NVIDIA's Vera Rubin platform. The partnership includes co-optimization of roadmaps for OpenAI's model and infrastructure software with NVIDIA's hardware and software. OpenAI, currently serving 700 million weekly active users, will work with NVIDIA as a preferred strategic compute and networking partner for its AI factory growth plans.

Positive

• Massive $100 billion investment commitment from NVIDIA to OpenAI
• Strategic partnership securing NVIDIA as preferred compute partner for OpenAI's growth
• Deployment of 10 gigawatts of AI data centers representing millions of GPUs
• Co-optimization of hardware and software roadmaps between both companies
• Access to OpenAI's large user base of 700 million weekly active users

Negative

• Significant capital expenditure requirement of $100 billion
• Long deployment timeline with first phase starting in second half of 2026
• Partnership details still need to be finalized
• High execution risk due to unprecedented scale of deployment

Insights

Technology Investment Analyst

NVIDIA's $100B OpenAI investment for 10GW computing infrastructure marks historic AI partnership with significant revenue and competitive positioning implications.

NVIDIA has announced a landmark strategic partnership with OpenAI that includes plans to invest up to $100 billion in the AI company while deploying at least 10 gigawatts of NVIDIA systems for OpenAI's next-generation AI infrastructure. This represents one of the largest corporate investments in history, positioning NVIDIA not just as a supplier but as a significant stakeholder in OpenAI's future.

The scale of this computing infrastructure is unprecedented. For context, a single gigawatt can power roughly 750,000 homes. Dedicating 10 gigawatts solely to AI computing infrastructure signals a computing deployment several orders of magnitude beyond anything previously announced in the AI sector.

From NVIDIA's perspective, this arrangement secures a massive, long-term customer for its high-margin GPU systems. The investment structure—tied directly to gigawatt deployment milestones—creates a self-reinforcing commercial relationship where NVIDIA's hardware sales directly fund its equity position in OpenAI.

The partnership's structure brilliantly addresses both companies' strategic needs. NVIDIA gains a guaranteed customer at unprecedented scale while securing an equity position in perhaps the most important AI application company. Meanwhile, OpenAI secures the massive computing resources needed for its stated goal of developing artificial general intelligence.

The announcement mentions NVIDIA becoming OpenAI's "preferred strategic compute and networking partner," indicating this partnership likely includes not just GPUs but NVIDIA's entire AI stack, including networking components, software, and potentially custom silicon. The co-optimization of roadmaps mentioned in the release suggests deep technical collaboration beyond a standard vendor relationship.

While the first phase isn't scheduled until the second half of 2026, using NVIDIA's not-yet-released "Vera Rubin" platform, this announcement effectively signals NVIDIA's dominance in AI computing for years to come, despite increasing competition from AMD, Intel, and various startups. The timeline also provides insight into OpenAI's development roadmap, suggesting their most ambitious AI systems are still several years from deployment.

Corporate Strategy Expert

This partnership represents a profound strategic repositioning for NVIDIA, transforming from merely a semiconductor supplier into a major AI infrastructure investor. The $100 billion investment—deployed progressively as each gigawatt comes online—creates an innovative financing mechanism that aligns NVIDIA's hardware sales with equity upside in perhaps the most valuable AI company globally.

The structure is particularly notable: rather than a straightforward equity investment, NVIDIA's funding is directly tied to infrastructure deployment. This creates a virtuous cycle where NVIDIA's hardware powers OpenAI's models, generating revenue for NVIDIA while simultaneously increasing the value of its OpenAI investment. It's effectively a vendor financing arrangement at unprecedented scale, but with significant equity upside potential.

For OpenAI, securing this level of computing infrastructure addresses its most critical constraint—compute power—while bringing in a strategic partner with deep technical expertise. The 10 gigawatt commitment dwarfs the computing power behind current AI systems by orders of magnitude, potentially creating an insurmountable competitive advantage in training capability.

The partnership's timing is strategically significant. By announcing this now but targeting 2026 deployment, NVIDIA effectively signals to competitors and customers that it maintains technological leadership in AI computing for the foreseeable future. This could potentially freeze purchasing decisions from other AI companies concerned about deploying soon-to-be-outdated technology.

The mention of "co-optimize their roadmaps" indicates this goes beyond a traditional customer-vendor relationship, suggesting OpenAI may influence NVIDIA's future chip designs while NVIDIA may shape OpenAI's model architecture. This level of technical integration creates switching costs that would make it extremely difficult for OpenAI to pivot to alternative hardware providers.

This alliance also positions both companies more strongly against their respective competitors: NVIDIA against AMD, Intel, and increasingly cloud providers developing their own AI chips; OpenAI against Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and other AI research organizations.

News

• Strategic partnership enables OpenAI to build and deploy at least 10 gigawatts of AI data centers with NVIDIA systems representing millions of GPUs for OpenAI’s next-generation AI infrastructure.
• To support the partnership, NVIDIA intends to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI progressively as each gigawatt is deployed.
• The first gigawatt of NVIDIA systems will be deployed in the second half of 2026 on the NVIDIA Vera Rubin platform.
  

SAN FRANCISCO and SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OpenAI and NVIDIA today announced a letter of intent for a landmark strategic partnership to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of NVIDIA systems for OpenAI’s next-generation AI infrastructure to train and run its next generation of models on the path to deploying superintelligence. To support this deployment including data center and power capacity, NVIDIA intends to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI as the new NVIDIA systems are deployed. The first phase is targeted to come online in the second half of 2026 using the NVIDIA Vera Rubin platform.

“NVIDIA and OpenAI have pushed each other for a decade, from the first DGX supercomputer to the breakthrough of ChatGPT,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “This investment and infrastructure partnership mark the next leap forward — deploying 10 gigawatts to power the next era of intelligence.”

“Everything starts with compute,” said Sam Altman, cofounder and CEO of OpenAI. “Compute infrastructure will be the basis for the economy of the future, and we will utilize what we’re building with NVIDIA to both create new AI breakthroughs and empower people and businesses with them at scale.”

“We’ve been working closely with NVIDIA since the early days of OpenAI,” said Greg Brockman, cofounder and president of OpenAI. “We’ve utilized their platform to create AI systems that hundreds of millions of people use every day. We’re excited to deploy 10 gigawatts of compute with NVIDIA to push back the frontier of intelligence and scale the benefits of this technology to everyone.”

OpenAI will work with NVIDIA as a preferred strategic compute and networking partner for its AI factory growth plans. OpenAI and NVIDIA will work together to co-optimize their roadmaps for OpenAI’s model and infrastructure software and NVIDIA’s hardware and software.

This partnership complements the deep work OpenAI and NVIDIA are already doing with a broad network of collaborators, including Microsoft, Oracle, SoftBank and Stargate partners, focused on building the world’s most advanced AI infrastructure.

OpenAI has grown to over 700 million weekly active users and strong adoption across global enterprises, small businesses and developers. This partnership will help OpenAI advance its mission to build artificial general intelligence that benefits all of humanity.

NVIDIA and OpenAI look forward to finalizing the details of this new phase of strategic partnership in the coming weeks.

About OpenAI
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company. Our mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.

Media contact: press@OpenAI.com

About NVIDIA
NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in AI and accelerated computing.

Media contact: press@NVIDIA.com

Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: NVIDIA’s intent to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI; the timeline for deployment; the investment and infrastructure partnership marking the next leap forward—deploying 10 gigawatts to power the next era of intelligence; the benefits, impact, performance, and availability of NVIDIA’s products, services, and technologies; expectations with respect to NVIDIA’s third party arrangements, including with its collaborators and partners; expectations with respect to technology developments; and other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are subject to the “safe harbor” created by those sections based on management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic and political conditions; NVIDIA’s reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test NVIDIA’s products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to NVIDIA’s existing product and technologies; market acceptance of NVIDIA’s products or NVIDIA’s partners’ products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of NVIDIA’s products or technologies when integrated into systems; and changes in applicable laws and regulations, as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the most recent reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company’s website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

FAQ

What is the value of NVIDIA's investment in OpenAI?

NVIDIA plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI, with investments tied to the deployment of each gigawatt of AI data center capacity.

When will NVIDIA and OpenAI begin deploying their AI infrastructure?

The first phase of deployment is scheduled for the second half of 2026 using NVIDIA's Vera Rubin platform.

How many gigawatts of NVIDIA systems will OpenAI deploy?

OpenAI will deploy at least 10 gigawatts of NVIDIA systems for their next-generation AI infrastructure.

What is OpenAI's current user base?

OpenAI currently serves 700 million weekly active users across global enterprises, small businesses, and developers.

What is the scope of the NVIDIA-OpenAI partnership?

The partnership includes deployment of AI data centers, co-optimization of hardware and software roadmaps, and establishes NVIDIA as OpenAI's preferred strategic compute and networking partner.