Nvidia Partners With Wall Street to Mobilize $500 Billion

Nvidia has partnered with six major financial institutions—Apollo Global Management, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield Asset Management, Goldman Sachs, and KKR—to mobilize over $500 billion for AI infrastructure. The initiative aims to transform AI chips and computing capacity into a new investable asset class, similar to real estate or power plants, allowing customers to finance data centers and GPUs through institutional credit rather than their own balance sheets.

Under the plan, loans will be secured by Nvidia products, with the company potentially guaranteeing up to 25% of the collateral based on residual value. This strategy addresses rising capital expenditures for AI labs and hyperscalers facing scrutiny from rating agencies. CEO Jensen Huang described the computer as part of the infrastructure, akin to electricity or the internet.

Simultaneously, Nvidia disclosed a stake of approximately 122.8 million Class A shares in Space Exploration Technologies Corp., valued at $21 billion as of June 30. This position resulted from a $10 billion investment in xAI, which converted into SpaceX shares after SpaceX acquired the AI venture in February. Following SpaceX's June IPO, the stake's value declined to roughly $17.2 billion. During SpaceX's first public earnings call, CEO Elon Musk confirmed the company will build its AI data centers exclusively using Nvidia's upcoming Vera Rubin architecture.

While BlackRock and Goldman Sachs executives expressed confidence in the initiative, critics have raised alarms. DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach warned that using fast-evolving technology as collateral for long-term debt is risky, while Mark Cuban compared the concept of chips as an asset class to cryptocurrency.