Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares were little changed in extended trading on Tuesday, after falling 2.9% during the regular session, following a Reuters report that OpenAI is unhappy with aspects of Nvidia’s latest AI chips and has been looking at rival suppliers.
According to the report, OpenAI began assessing alternative chipmakers last year, with a particular focus on AI inference — the stage at which systems such as ChatGPT generate responses to user prompts. While Nvidia continues to dominate the market for training large-scale AI models, inference is increasingly emerging as a competitive front within the semiconductor industry.
The move could add tension to the relationship between two of the most influential players in artificial intelligence, particularly as the companies have reportedly held discussions around potential investment. The report followed an earlier Wall Street Journal story that said talks for Nvidia to invest as much as $100 billion in OpenAI had collapsed, which had already weighed on Nvidia’s shares earlier in the day.
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang later sought to clarify the situation, saying the company would “absolutely” participate in OpenAI’s current fundraising round, but stressed that the investment would be “nothing like” the previously cited $100 billion figure.
Overall, the developments underscore potential risks to Nvidia’s commanding position in AI chips, as major customers such as OpenAI evaluate alternative solutions for specific processing requirements.
Commenting on the stock’s decline, Mizuho analyst Daniel O’Regan said, “I think the story hurts sentiment around a key customer of [Nvidia] in [OpenAI].”