Nvidia has teamed up with some of Wall Street’s biggest banks and investors to raise $500bn (£370bn) in capital for AI infrastructure. The chipmaker said it had closed deals with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR, and that investors were for the first time treating AI hardware and infrastructure, often referred to as “computing,” as an asset class. “In AI, computing is income,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. “We are bringing together the world’s leading long-term capital providers to independently fund AI infrastructure.” It will also support new factories to make the AI chips needed to power these systems and increase their availability to buyers. “Computing has become a critical infrastructure asset,” Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall, co-CEOs of KKR, said in a joint statement. “As we have expanded our focus on digital infrastructure, we have learned that delivery, not ambition, is the hard part.” Essentially, all major technology and AI companies use Nvidia computer chips or graphics processing units (GPUs) to power their AI services, AI platforms, and AI chatbots. “Nvidia is absolutely huge and produces these chips that everyone needs for AI and needs to continue to facilitate the growth of AI,” Jane Sydenham, senior investment manager at Rathbones, told the BBC. However, he added: “The concern is that more and more money is going into these projects. Will everyone get the right return for the future?”
