NVIDIA Introduces New Business Model for AI Compute Access
In brief
- NVIDIA is introducing a new business model to open up compute access to startups and other AI companies.
- This model will allow AI clouds to sell NVIDIA-powered cloud services.
- The new model matters because it will help small AI companies get the computing power they need.
- For example, Sharon AI is already working with NVIDIA to deploy up to 40,000 GPUs.
- Firmus is building a large AI factory campus with up to 170,000 NVIDIA GPUs.
- NVIDIA will earn revenue from these sales and get a share of the cloud revenue.
- This will help NVIDIA grow its business and support the fast-growing AI sector.
- More AI companies will get access to computing power soon.
Terms in this brief
- GPU
- Graphics Processing Unit — a specialized electronic circuit designed to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer. GPUs are commonly used in modern computer graphics as they are more efficient than general-purpose CPUs at manipulating visual data, making them essential for AI computations and rendering.
Read full story at NVIDIA Blog →
More briefs
Tesla Limits AI Spending to $200 Weekly
Tesla is capping employee spending on AI tools at $200 per week. The company introduced this limit due to rapid growth in employee use of AI tools. Some software engineers were using thousands of dollars in AI tokens each week. This cap will help Tesla balance its desire to use AI more often with the need to control costs. Tesla will now require approval for any AI spending over $200 per week, with some exceptions. The company will watch how this change affects its work on projects like self-driving cars.
AI Costs More Than Human Workers
Companies are laying off workers to fund AI tools that cost more than the workers they replace. Uber spent its entire 2026 AI coding budget in four months. Microsoft invested $13 billion in OpenAI and uses generative AI to write up to 30 percent of its code. However, one company ran up a $500 million bill in a single month after forgetting to set a usage cap. The tech industry must shift from indiscriminate AI spending to efficient solutions that prove their worth. The industry will need to change its approach to AI soon.
Crusoe Raises $3B for AI Data Centers
Crusoe is raising $3 billion to build more AI data centers. The company builds data centers for major tech firms like Microsoft and OpenAI. The new funding will value Crusoe at $30 billion, three times its value last year. Crusoe has already raised $2.77 billion and built data centers for companies like Meta and Oracle. Crusoe will use the new funds to expand its operations and build more data centers for its customers. The company will likely use the money to increase production at its new factory.
Abu Dhabi Closes $49 Billion AI Fund
Abu Dhabi's MGX closed a $49 billion AI fund. This fund invests in AI labs and data centers. The fund is the largest sovereign wealth fund bet on artificial intelligence yet. The fund's size is important. Four state-backed funds are using different strategies to capture AI value. Abu Dhabi is buying the entire AI stack. Saudi Arabia is building AI infrastructure at home. Qatar is not building models at all. Singapore is making direct equity investments in AI labs. These different approaches will be tested in the coming year.
Takeda Partners with Insilico for AI-Driven Drug Discovery
Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda has inked a $600 million deal with Hong Kong's Insilico Medicine to integrate artificial intelligence into early-stage drug development. This collaboration will leverage Insilico’s Pharma.AI platform, which uses machine learning to identify potential drug targets and accelerate the discovery process. While specific therapeutic areas weren’t disclosed, the focus is on improving efficiency and pinpointing more effective treatments earlier in the pipeline. The move underscores the growing role of AI in pharma, where it can reduce costs and speed up the time-consuming research phase. By harnessing Insilico’s technology, Takeda aims to bolster its innovation capabilities. This kind of partnership highlights how tech integration is transforming traditional industries like drug development, bringing new tools to tackle complex health challenges. Looking ahead, this deal sets a precedent for other pharma companies to adopt AI-driven approaches. The success of this collaboration could pave the way for more efficient drug discovery processes globally.