For years, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been investing in other people's AI businesses while serving as the "pick-and-shovel seller." Now, according to reports from the Financial Times and Reuters, Nvidia has struck a deal with six Wall Street giants – Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, BlackRock, Brookfield Asset Management, Goldman Sachs, and KKR – to jointly raise US$500 billion to build artificial intelligence infrastructure. Huang personally reached out to the six institutions, and none of them turned him down.
From "investing in others" to "getting his own hands dirty"
For a long time, Nvidia's core business model has been to supply GPU chips to AI companies and to indirectly participate in the AI ecosystem through investment partnerships. Over the past two years, Nvidia has negotiated with OpenAI over as much as $350 billion in chip procurement financing, and has committed over $500 billion in business dealings to South Korea's SK Group. Yet these collaborations have always revolved around "selling chips" and "investing in others."
This $500 billion plan marks a significant strategic pivot for Nvidia – transforming itself from a mere chip supplier into a direct builder and capital organiser of AI infrastructure. Huang said: "We've brought together the world's leading long-term capital providers to independently underwrite AI infrastructure. These financing platforms will help customers access scarce computing power at scale and build the AI factories that will power every industry in the AI era."
Huang personally invited the six giants – none said no
It is understood that the initiative was personally spearheaded by Jensen Huang. In an interview with CNBC, he revealed that he had only reached out to the six institutions mentioned. According to the joint statement, the alliance will create dedicated pools of capital at significant scale at attractive rates for its customers. Sources familiar with the matter said the financing will focus on supporting hyperscale data centres and edge computing facilities, and will be primarily structured as debt financing.
The $500 billion figure is almost equivalent to the expected total issuance of technology-related corporate bonds for the entire year of 2026. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said future transactions would offer high credit quality and attractive bond yields. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon added: This is major infrastructure construction, and the capital markets are sending a signal – there is plenty of capital available to support it.
Notably, Huang stressed that the entire US$500 billion comes from third-party capital; Nvidia itself is not a direct investor, but rather acts as the organiser and technical standard‑setter, leveraging Wall Street's massive funds to serve its ecosystem. Analysts pointed out that Huang's personal involvement in assembling this financing alliance means Nvidia now aims not only to control the "chips" of the AI era, but also to command the "capital valve" that builds AI factories.
(Source: Reuters)
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