Nvidia fires $7B warning shot at OpenAI, DeepSeek with Poolside AI deal

Published Aug 25, 09:39 PM UTC

Nvidia is making a major push into AI models by striking a $7 billion deal with startup Poolside. The deal includes $6 billion to license Poolside's AI technology and $1 billion in equity investment at a $12 billion pre-money valuation. Over 100 Poolside employees, including engineers, will join Nvidia to work on its Nemotron open-weight AI project. The move positions Nvidia as a direct competitor to OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, and Kimi, emphasizing open-weight AI models that can be freely downloaded and customized. Poolside will remain independent, with founders continuing research outside Nvidia. The deal underscores CEO Jensen Huang's strategy to challenge both Chinese open-model developers and US AI leaders.