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At nearly the same moment as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was expressing surprise over OpenAI\u2019s multibillion-dollar deal<\/a> with competitor AMD \u2014 shortly after his company agreed to invest up to $100 billion<\/a> into the AI model maker \u2014 Sam Altman was saying that more such deals are in the works.<\/p>\n Huang appeared on CNBC\u2019s Squawk Box<\/a> on Wednesday. When asked if he knew about the AMD deal before it was announced, he answered, \u201cNot really.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As TechCrunch previously reported, OpenAI\u2019s deal with AMD is unusual<\/a>. AMD has agreed to grant OpenAI large tranches of AMD stock \u2014 up to 10% of the company over a period of years contingent on factors like increases in stock price. In exchange, OpenAI will use and help develop the chipmaker\u2019s next-generation AI GPUs chips. This makes OpenAI a shareholder in AMD. \u00a0<\/p>\n Nvidia\u2019s deal is the reverse. Nvidia has invested in the AI model-making startup, making it a shareholder in OpenAI.\u00a0<\/p>\n While OpenAI has been using Nvidia gear for years through cloud providers like Microsoft Azure, Oracle OCI, and CoreWeave, \u201cThis is the first time we\u2019re going to sell directly to them,\u201d Huang explained. He added that his company would still continue to supply gear to the cloud makers, too.<\/p>\n These direct sales, which include AI gear beyond GPUs like systems and networking, are intended to \u201cprepare\u201d OpenAI for the day when it is its own \u201cself-hosted hyperscaler,\u201d Huang said. In other words, when it\u2019s using its own data centers.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Huang admits that OpenAI doesn\u2019t \u201chave the money yet\u201d to pay for all of this gear. He estimated that each gigawatt of AI data center will cost OpenAI \u201c$50 to $60 billion,\u201d to cover everything from the land and power to the servers and equipment.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> So far, in 2025, OpenAI has commissioned 10 gigawatts\u2019 worth of U.S. facilities through its $500 billion Stargate deal with partners Oracle and SoftBank. (Plus, it penned a $300 billion cloud deal with Oracle.)<\/p>\n Its partnership with Nvidia was for at least 10 gigawatts of AI data centers. Its partnership with AMD was for 6 gigawatts. Plus its \u201cStargate UK\u201d partnership involves expanding data centers in the U.K., and it has other European commitments. By some estimates, OpenAI has this year inked $1 trillion worth of such deals<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n Similar to the AMD deal, Nvidia\u2019s deal has been criticized for being \u201ccircular,\u201d Bloomberg reported<\/a>. The critics say Nvidia is essentially underwriting OpenAI\u2019s purchases, getting the AI startup\u2019s stock for its efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n As Huang was dissecting OpenAI\u2019s infrastructure needs on CNBC, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman\u2019s interview with Andreessen Horowitz\u2019s a16z Podcast<\/a> dropped.<\/p>\n During the podcast, a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz told Altman that he\u2019s \u201cvery impressed by deal structure improvement,\u201d referring to these most recent deals. Andreessen Horowitz is an OpenAI investor, so it would be shocking if he wasn\u2019t impressed. OpenAI has found a way to potentially obtain billions of dollars of equipment on someone else\u2019s dime. Repeatedly.\u00a0<\/p>\n When asked about these recent deals, Altman said, \u201cYou should expect much more from us in the coming months.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Altman sees OpenAI\u2019s future models and upcoming other products as so much more capable, thereby fueling so much more demand, that \u201cwe have decided that it is time to go make a very aggressive infrastructure bet,\u201d he explained. \u00a0<\/p>\n The problem is that OpenAI\u2019s revenue today is currently nowhere near a $1 trillion, though it is, by all accounts, growing rapidly, reportedly hitting $4.5 billion<\/a> in the first half of 2025.<\/p>\n Yet Altman obviously believes that eventually all of this investment will pay for itself. \u201cI\u2019ve never been more confident in the research road map in front of us and also the economic value that will come from using those [future] models.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But, he said, OpenAI can\u2019t get to all of that economic lushness on its own.<\/p>\n \u201cTo make the bet at this scale, we kind of need the whole industry, or big chunk of the industry, to support it. And this is from the level of electrons to model distribution and all the stuff in between, which is a lot. So we\u2019re going to partner with a lot of people,\u201d Altman said, with more deals expected in the coming months.<\/p>\n So stand by, tech industry. OpenAI is still wheeling and dealing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\nAltman to the world: Expect more<\/h2>\n