US chipmaker Nvidia and artificial intelligence company OpenAI have announced a landmark partnership to expand global AI infrastructure. In a statement on its website on Monday, September 22, OpenAI said it would deploy at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia systems to power its next-generation AI models.
The plan translates to millions of GPUs and large new datacenters. Nvidia said it will invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI as each gigawatt is rolled out. The first phase is expected to go online in the second half of 2026 using Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the partnership marked “the next leap forward, deploying 10 gigawatts to power the next era of intelligence.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman echoed the importance of the deal, calling compute “the basis for the economy of the future.”
The two companies have worked together for over a decade, from early DGX supercomputers to the breakthrough of ChatGPT. As part of the agreement, Nvidia will become OpenAI’s preferred compute and networking partner. Both firms will also coordinate their hardware and software roadmaps.
The move comes as OpenAI continues to expand beyond Microsoft, which has invested more than $13 billion in the startup. Earlier this year, Microsoft lost its exclusive role as OpenAI’s compute provider, with the company striking new deals with Oracle and other partners.
OpenAI recently reported reaching 700 million weekly active users, with growing adoption across enterprises, small businesses, and developers. Both Nvidia and OpenAI said they expect to finalise the full details of the partnership in the coming weeks.
