Nvidia, Apple in talks to join OpenAI’s new funding round valuing it at over US$1 billion

Nvidia has discussed investing about US$100 million, while Apple and Microsoft are also mulling participation, sources say

Reading Time:2 minutes

Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft are in talks to join OpenAI’s latest funding round, sources say. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 10:00am, 30 Aug 2024

Nvidia, the world’s biggest chip maker, has discussed joining a funding round for OpenAI that would value the artificial intelligence (AI) start-up at more than US$100 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Apple and Microsoft also have been in talks about taking part in the financing, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. The round would be led by Thrive Capital, which is investing about US$1 billion, Bloomberg reported earlier this week. Nvidia has discussed investing about US$100 million, two of the people said.

If the discussions move forward, it would mean the three most valuable tech companies are all backing OpenAI, maker of the groundbreaking ChatGPT chatbot. Microsoft was already OpenAI’s biggest funder, having invested roughly US$13 billion.

Representatives for Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, OpenAI and Thrive all declined to comment.

Big Tech’s influence over artificial intelligence has been drawing mounting scrutiny, with regulators in both the EU and US expressing concerns about Nvidia’s dominance in AI chips and Microsoft’s close relationship with OpenAI. Microsoft has tightly integrated OpenAI’s services into its Windows and Copilot AI platforms – a bet that the capabilities will help drive growth.

Apple has existing ties with OpenAI as well. The iPhone maker is adding ChatGPT to its new suite of AI features, called Apple Intelligence. The company also was slated to take a board observer seat at OpenAI – alongside Microsoft – but those plans were dropped in July.