Critique: 'Circular funding' charge
A social post accused NVIDIA of 'circular funding' — investing in AI companies or cloud providers that then buy NVIDIA GPUs, implying a feedback loop boosting GPU sales. The line is appearing in public debates about vendor‑ecosystem influence. (x.com)
NVIDIA signed a letter of intent with OpenAI in September 2025 to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of NVIDIA systems and said it would invest up to $100 billion progressively as those systems are brought online. (nvidianews.nvidia.com) On Jan. 26, 2026 NVIDIA disclosed an additional $2 billion investment in GPU cloud provider CoreWeave, a move reporters flagged as emblematic of the deals feeding the “circular financing” narrative. (bloomberg.com) On March 11, 2026 NVIDIA announced a $2 billion strategic investment in neocloud operator Nebius, taking roughly an 8.3% stake and tying the capital to multi‑gigawatt deployment plans through 2030. (finance.yahoo.com) NVIDIA has also participated in large model‑builder rounds, including backing Cohere in a $500 million round reported in August 2025, illustrating how equity stakes and customer relationships overlap across the AI stack. (siliconangle.com) Data trackers and reporting show a rapid ramp in NVIDIA’s venture activity — PitchBook/TechCrunch reported the company participated in roughly 67 venture deals in 2025 and NVentures accelerated dealmaking compared with prior years. (techcrunch.com) Financial journalists and analysts have explicitly likened these patterns to “round‑tripping” and dot‑com era channel‑financing risks, citing historical precedents and warning that cross‑investment tied to guaranteed hardware purchases can amplify valuation and sales optics. (nbcnews.com)
