NVIDIA invested $40 billion in AI startups in the first four months of 2026, most of it in OpenAI

NVIDIA has invested over $40 billion in AI startups during the first four months of 2026 — a record volume and the most aggressive capital deployment in the company's history.

Where the Money Went

The bulk goes to OpenAI: $30 billion out of $40 billion. This is three times the size of the next largest investment. NVIDIA distributed the remaining $10 billion among major investments and roughly two dozen early-stage private rounds. Key beneficiaries:

• CoreWeave — cloud GPU hosting for running AI models
• IREN — infrastructure platforms for distributed AI
• Corning — fiber optic networks critical for data centers
• Nebius — cloud computing across the post-Soviet space
• About two dozen private rounds in companies building tools around GPUs

In total, NVIDIA is essentially saying: "I can afford to invest more than any venture fund on the planet."

This Is Not Venture Capital, But Vertical Integration

Typically, large companies either invest in risky startups or buy finished products. NVIDIA does a third thing: it invests in companies that either produce critical infrastructure for its chips, or are moving in directions NVIDIA wants to go, or become anchors for the CUDA and GPU computing ecosystem. This is not a bet on 100 brilliant startups, three to five of which might take off. This is $40 billion invested in making sure the entire AI world is built on NVIDIA chips and there are no competitors. When OpenAI receives $30 billion, it also means: thank you for using only our GPUs.

"This looks more like buying loyalty than venture investing," an

antitrust specialist would describe it.

Circular Deals and Regulatory Risks

Here is the logic that concerns antitrust authorities: NVIDIA invests in OpenAI, OpenAI pays NVIDIA for GPUs, NVIDIA makes a profit and invests more, the cycle repeats. This is a perfect circular deal. In practice, it's dangerous. When one player is simultaneously infrastructure owner, investor, equipment supplier, and indirect profit beneficiary, conflicts of interest arise. The EU has already started looking in this direction. American regulators are too.

What This Means

NVIDIA is not competing for the best venture investments in the venture sense. NVIDIA is fighting for complete control over the value chain in AI. It is not paying for shares, but for the ecosystem. The next three years will show whether regulators notice what this means for competition.