American tech companies are competing with tens, if not hundreds, of billions in spending on the infrastructure and computing power needed to stay in the artificial intelligence race.

American multinational chipmaker Nvidia plans to invest $100 billion in building giant data centers for OpenAI, the leader in generative artificial intelligence (AI), they announced on Monday, September 22.

The two Californian tech giants have signed "a letter of intent for a historic strategic partnership to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia systems for OpenAI's next-generation AI infrastructure . "

These additional capabilities will enable the startup "to train and run its next generation of models as part of the development of superintelligence ," they state in the press release. "To support this development, which includes data centers and electrical power, Nvidia plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI as new Nvidia systems are deployed ," they continue.

"The goal is for the first phase to be operational in the second half of 2026 with the Nvidia Vera Rubin platform ," the expected new generation of processors and graphics chips from the Santa Clara, California-based group. Wall Street welcomed the news, with Nvidia shares gaining 3.44% on the New York Stock Exchange early in the evening.

“Making new breakthroughs in the field of AI”

According to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, "this partnership in investment and infrastructure marks a new leap forward: deploying 10 gigawatts to power the next generation of artificial intelligence," which represents roughly the average power of ten nuclear reactors in France.

"Computing infrastructure will be the foundation of the economy of the future, and we'll use what we're building with Nvidia to make new breakthroughs in AI and enable people and businesses to benefit from it at scale," said Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, also quoted in the press release.

This partnership complements OpenAI and Nvidia's ongoing collaboration with Microsoft, Oracle, SoftBank, and partners in Project Stargate, a $500 billion program to build a vast AI infrastructure on U.S. soil. American tech giants are competing with each other, spending tens, if not hundreds, of billions on the infrastructure and computing power needed to stay ahead of the AI race.

For OpenAI, which claims 700 million users, and its main competitors, these expenses still far exceed revenues, fueling fears of a possible bubble that have not, however, slowed investor enthusiasm for the time being.