Nvidia Resets the Table: A $30 Billion OpenAI Deal Built on Equity, Not Chips

There is something genuinely new about Nvidia’s latest investment in OpenAI. Previous reports of a $100 billion deal were built on the idea that Nvidia would effectively fund its own chip sales through OpenAI. The new arrangement, reportedly worth $30 billion, throws that logic out and replaces it with a simple equity investment that gives Nvidia a real financial stake in OpenAI’s future without any product strings attached.
OpenAI’s funding round, expected to raise roughly $100 billion in total, will reportedly value the company at $730 billion. That places the ChatGPT maker among the world’s most valuable private enterprises and positions it well above its closest AI rival, Anthropic, which recently raised $30 billion at approximately half that valuation. Amazon, SoftBank, and Microsoft are expected to join the round.
Last September’s $100 billion announcement drove Nvidia’s market cap above $5 trillion, but the excitement was short-lived. As analysts began to examine the structure of the deal — in which Nvidia’s capital would essentially cycle back through OpenAI’s chip purchases — the enthusiasm cooled. Reports earlier this month confirmed that the deal was never formally binding, and OpenAI had already been in conversations with chipmakers AMD and Broadcom about potential supply arrangements.
The new deal makes Nvidia a genuine investor rather than a vendor. There is no chip purchase commitment, no circular capital flow, and no conflict of interest to explain away. Nvidia is simply putting $30 billion into a company it believes will grow in value — a bet that is large but at least structurally sound.
OpenAI’s current trajectory does raise legitimate questions about whether a $730 billion valuation is justified. Market share has fallen. Anthropic is gaining. Cash burn is ongoing. Advertising experiments have generated backlash. SoftBank hedged its commitment publicly in a recent earnings call. These are real challenges — but they have not deterred Nvidia from making one of its boldest financial bets in years.