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Nvidia sells the chips behind the AI boom, and it is increasingly the one holding the boom up. Its customers are borrowing heavily to buy GPUs, its own balance sheet is covering some of the risk, and its rivals are looking for ways around it. The Information’s reporters have followed all three threads.
These stories reveal where Nvidia’s position is strongest and where it is being tested.
The debt behind Nvidia’s biggest customers
CoreWeave, a cloud company Nvidia backs and supplies, borrowed its way to the center of the AI boom, and its stock has been sliding. Our exclusive goes inside the Blackstone loan that started it, and why CoreWeave’s debt binge has become a test for the whole build-out.
Nscale is heading toward an IPO with a backlog of contracts that rivals CoreWeave’s, and Nvidia is among its backers. Most of that capacity is still unbuilt, which raises the question of what the company is really worth.
Nvidia steps in as the backstop
Nvidia has become something like a central bank for the companies buying its chips, promising to cover leases and buy unused capacity. Our analysis adds up how much it has put on the line, and it may have to go further.
Firmus, an Australian cloud provider Nvidia has backed in its last three funding rounds, pulled its IPO this month after investors balked. Nvidia is now in talks to back it again. How far Nvidia will go to keep its customers afloat is the open question.
The rivals chipping at Nvidia’s lead
In China, DeepSeek is shaping the design of Huawei’s next AI chips, with Huawei engineers working inside its offices. The goal is to train top models without Nvidia.
Closer to home, chip startups that set out to beat Nvidia are choosing to partner with it instead, and Nvidia plans to invest in one of them. It is not the first such deal.
Nvidia is underwriting its customers’ growth while its rivals look for a way around it. How long both can last is still open.
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