Nvidia’s $500B Compute Deal

TBPN，科技每日秀 Substack 专栏。关注

Happy Tuesday.

We’re live on YouTube and 𝕏.

The current thing in tech and business is Nvidia striking a $500B AI financing deal with firms on Wall Street.

Today’s Lineup

Carvana Founder & CEO Ernie Garcia at 11:45 AM
Slipstream Investors Founder & GP Alex Edelson at 12:10 PM
Clair Founder & CEO Nico Simko at 12:35 PM
Sidley Austin LLP Partner and Former CFTC Head of Enforcement Ian Mcginley at 12:50 PM
Housing Frame Founder Conor Sen at 1:00 PM

Run of Show

Nvidia’s $500b Compute Deal

Jensen lined up a murders row of financiers for a new AI financing package. He brought the whole crew to CNBC for a roundtable discussion which is worth watching in full. The group consisted of:

Jensen Huang: Founder and CEO of NVIDIA
David Solomon: CEO of Goldman Sachs
Larry Fink: CEO of BlackRock
Jon Gray: President of Blackstone
Jim Zelter: President of Apollo
Bruce Flatt: CEO of Brookfield

I’m sure the Hollywood starlets were lined up outside trying to score some arm candy. Rare to see so many capital allocators that put it all on the line every day in the markets together in one place!

The $500b is a huge number, but after Jensen lays out that a single GW of compute is around $50b these days, it feels pretty manageable in the short term. Jensen also dropped a bold line about the AI companies that have faced skepticism around their financials and return on investment: “Within months you are going to realize that these companies are extremely profitable.”

“The sheer size of the AI infrastructure build-out is unprecedented” said Jim Zelter, president of Apollo. “More than $8tn of capital is expected to be invested, a staggering sum. We see an enormous opportunity for private capital to finance a portion of this along with public capital.”

Wall Street is definitely not taking their foot off the gas here. — John

Clip Spotlight: The Atlantic CEO Nick Thompson says AI could help reverse the extreme polarization caused by social media algos.

"Social media drives people to extremes. It encourages ragebait."

"It didn't have to be that way, but it's the way the algorithms were built. It's the way we used them."

"AI kind of does the opposite. The more time you spend on AI, the more moderate, the more toward the center you get."

"I wonder whether, as the media ecosystem has more AI and is less dominated by social media, the incentives for ragebait go down. Whether it actually leads to a healthier ecosystem..."

"I'm kind of hopeful AI makes this better."