'This Is A Partnership That...': Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang On How New OpenAI $100 Million Deal Is Different

Nvidia struck a deal with OpenAI not more than a couple of weeks ago, signing a strategic partnership that promised to invest $100 million. This is the first time Nvidia is directly dealing with OpenAI, according to the company's founder, Jensen Huang.

Speaking to CNBC International, Huang explained the intricacies of Nvidia's deal with OpenAI, which comes at a time when there has been a flurry of partnerships and deals between AI and chipmaking companies.

Explaining how this will be the first time OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, will buy from Nvidia directly, Huang said, "This is a partnership where, for the first time, OpenAI is going to buy directly from us.

"Usually…a cloud service provider buys from us, and they rent from a cloud service provider. And so now it’s going to be a direct partnership.”

Nvidia announced on Sept. 22 that its plans to invest up to $100 million in OpenAI were part of a deal between the two companies surrounding the expansion of data centres, with OpenAI looking to build and operate Nvidia systems that would require at least 10 gigawatts of power.

The first gigawatt of Nvidia systems will be deployed in the second half of 2026 on Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform, the two companies confirmed.

Huang told CNBC International that its partnership with OpenAI is 'incremental' to the work the company is doing, adding that the company is helping the ChatGPT maker eventually manage its own cloud.

“We’re going to help them build an AI infrastructure that they operate themselves … and really set them up for, you know, five years out, when they’re going to operate their own cloud anyhow,” Huang said.

Earlier in September, Nvidia had also struck a deal with Intel, investing up to $5 million in the CPU chipmaker.