Nvidia, Amazon and Microsoft discuss tens of billions investment in OpenAI - media outlet

Major tech companies are discussing large-scale investments in OpenAI: According to The Information and Financial Times, Nvidia, Amazon and Microsoft could invest tens of billions of dollars in the ChatGPT developer as part of a funding round in which OpenAI expects to raise $100 billion.

Nvidia, Amazon and Microsoft are in talks to invest up to $60 billion in OpenAI, The Information reported, according to Reuters. According to The Information's source, Nvidia - already an investor and supplier of OpenAI - is discussing the possibility of additional investments in the company up to $30 billion. Microsoft wants to invest less than $10 billion in the ChatGPT developer, and Amazon, which may become a new investor in OpenAI, is negotiating investments much higher than $10 billion and potentially even more than $20 billion, The Information said.

At the same time, the Financial Times interlocutors, also familiar with the situation, cite slightly different data: according to their information, Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon may in total invest almost $40 billion in the ChatGPT developer. Of which Nvidia will invest up to $20 billion, Amazon - "$10 billion or more", and Microsoft, which already owns 27% in OpenAI, "may invest several billion more".

All these investments, sources told The Information and Financial Times, could be part of a new round of funding for OpenAI, under which the ChatGPT developer expects to raise up to $100 billion. At the same time, the "$20 billion check from Nvidia" in the current round of funding for OpenAI could be an addition to the previously discussed $100 billion agreement, or lead to a revision of its terms, sources told the FT.

In addition, according to The Information, Amazon's potential investment in OpenAI could hinge on separate negotiations, Reuters writes. These include a possible expansion of OpenAI and Amazon's cloud server lease agreement, as well as a commercial deal in which OpenAI would sell its products, including corporate subscriptions to ChatGPT, to Amazon.

Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI did not respond to Reuters' inquiries.

Shares of Nvidia and Amazon were down slightly in the Jan. 29 premarket, while Microsoft's securities fell nearly 7%.

Information about possible additional investments of techno-giants in OpenAI appeared after reports that Japanese investment and technology holding SoftBank Group is also negotiating additional investments in the ChatGPT developer for up to $30 billion.

The FT also names Abu Dhabi state fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and UAE investment platform MGX among other potential investors in OpenAI. However, the newspaper's sources note that it is still unclear whether all of them will join the funding round and whether the startup will be able to achieve its goal of raising $100 billion.

OpenAI needs significant funding to continue developing AI models, pay for computing power and retain top employees amid increasing competition from Google and Gemini, Reuters wrote. To generate additional revenue streams, OpenAI announced in mid-January that it was testing advertising on ChatGPT for a portion of its U.S. users, including a free version of the service and a new cheaper Go plan. Prior to that, ChatGPT mainly earned money from subscriptions, and company CEO Sam Altman called advertising a "last resort," fearing a decline in user trust.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor