Jensen Huang Says Nvidia Is Pulling Back From OpenAI and Anthropic

Source: Slashdot

Background

An anonymous reader quoted a report from TechCrunch: at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference in downtown San Francisco on Wednesday, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said his company’s recent investments in OpenAI and Anthropic are likely to be its last in both. He explained that once the two firms go public later this year, the opportunity to invest will close — a straightforward rationale. While some investors pile into companies right up to their IPO to capture upside, Nvidia already profits from selling the chips that power both firms, so it does not need to boost its returns by pouring additional capital into them.

Nvidia’s Response

When asked for comment after Huang’s remarks, a Nvidia spokesperson directed TechCrunch to a transcript from the company’s fourth‑quarter earnings call. In that call, Huang said all of Nvidia’s investments are “focused very squarely, strategically on expanding and deepening our ecosystem reach,” a goal that the earlier stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic have arguably met.

Possible Underlying Dynamics

• Circular nature of the arrangements – The close ties between AI startups and hardware giants have raised eyebrows about potential conflicts of interest.
• Strained relationship with Anthropic – Two months after Nvidia announced a $10 billion investment in November, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, speaking at Davos, likened the sale of high‑performance AI processors to approved Chinese customers to “selling nuclear weapons to North Korea.”

These factors suggest that Nvidia’s stakes in the two companies are now pulling in very different directions, potentially dragging customers and partners along for the ride.

Implications

Huang’s stated reason for pulling back— that the IPO window will close the door on further deals—doesn’t fully align with how late‑stage private investing typically works. It appears more likely that Nvidia is exiting a rapidly complicated situation rather than simply waiting for the companies to go public.