Nvidia is in discussions to participate as an anchor investor in the initial public offering of AI model developer Anthropic, with a potential investment of up to $10 billion. [Reuters]
Nvidia is in discussions to participate as an anchor investor in the initial public offering of AI model developer Anthropic, with a potential investment of up to $10 billion. [Reuters]

Nvidia is in discussions to join the initial public offering of AI model developer Anthropic as an anchor investor, according to reports.

Reuters reported Sunday, citing two sources, that Nvidia is considering investing up to $10 billion in Anthropic's IPO. The sources said the talks are private and that no plans have been finalized.

Anthropic is targeting a raise of up to $100 billion through the offering. Earlier, Nvidia pledged $10 billion and Microsoft pledged $5 billion to Anthropic in November last year, as part of a partnership under which Anthropic agreed to purchase $30 billion worth of Microsoft cloud services powered by Nvidia chips.

The arrangement would mirror how Nvidia and Amazon participated as anchor investors in chipmaker Arm's blockbuster IPO, a model in which major technology companies take anchor positions in large-scale listings. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund played a similar anchor role in the SpaceX IPO.

Bringing in a well-capitalized anchor investor such as Nvidia would attract early strategic backers and deepen the relationship between the chipmaker and a key customer. It would also bolster investor confidence in Anthropic's valuation and capital requirements.

Anthropic relies heavily on Nvidia GPUs but has been expanding its use of chips developed by Google and Amazon. The company recently established an in-house chip design team as part of efforts to diversify its supply chain.

Anthropic's annualized sales surged from around $9 billion at the end of last year to $65 billion as of late July. The company plans to complete its NASDAQ listing before the US midterm elections in November, pressing ahead despite growing calls for a slowdown in AI development.


kate01@heraldcorp.com