Nvidia, Wall Street Firms Unveil $500 Billion Plan to Turn GPUs Into Financeable Assets

Borrowers would be able to raise loans against computing capacity

Third-party financial firms join after criticism of “AI circular finance”

Nvidia, Wall Street Firms Unveil $500 Billion Plan to Turn GPUs Into Financeable Assets

Nvidia is partnering with six major Wall Street asset managers on a $500 billion funding initiative aimed at turning artificial-intelligence chips into a new asset class. The plan would treat graphics processing units, or GPUs, as collateralizable assets similar to commercial real estate, toll roads and other infrastructure, allowing companies to borrow against them.

The arrangement would put Wall Street firms in the role of financing Nvidia customers through loans backed by GPU chips, after criticism that Nvidia’s own investments in chip buyers amounted to “AI circular finance.”

Nvidia said on Aug. 10 that it will build a financing platform for its customers with BlackRock, Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, Field Asset Management, Goldman Sachs and KKR, CNBC reported.

Executives from the seven companies also appeared jointly on CNBC that day to explain the initiative.

The goal is to bring in outside capital so Nvidia customers, including hyperscalers, advanced AI labs and corporations, can build data centers and buy Nvidia hardware.

The effort could reshape how AI infrastructure is financed. Under the structure, Nvidia would help back investments in GPUs and data centers using institutional credit, insurance capital and private funding, enabling end users to secure financing without deploying their own money.

Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang told CNBC that this is the first time technology chips have become investable assets. They now generate income and are productive, long-lived, fungible and flexible.

Huang argued that Nvidia’s AI chips are widely used and can be transferred between customers, making them suitable for financial firms to underwrite as long-lived, income-generating assets.

Historically, GPUs have been viewed as hardware that loses value quickly. Nvidia’s push amounts to an attempt to turn AI computing capacity into long-term, profitable infrastructure, though skeptics may question whether that value can hold as next-generation AI chips emerge.

Huang also told CNBC that the fundamental shift in the industry is that computers have become part of infrastructure, much like electricity or the internet. Computing should therefore be viewed as infrastructure.

Alternative asset managers have already been active in channeling institutional and insurance capital into digital infrastructure projects. Apollo, Blackstone and other firms have already provided debt and equity financing to a range of companies, including Anthropic.

Since the AI-driven rally faded in July, investors have raised questions and criticism about AI circular finance. As hyperscalers pour hundreds of billions of dollars into data centers and hardware, credit-rating firms such as Moody’s have warned that the unprecedented capital spending is pressuring cash flow and increasing debt burdens at large technology companies.

BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Blackstone said in a press release that computing technology has quickly established itself as a core asset that will drive the next phase of global economic growth.

Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer David Solomon said in the release that the firm’s participation reflects its conviction in Nvidia’s leadership and its optimism about the opportunity to create a credit market built on Nvidia-powered computing.

Huang told CNBC that he personally pitched the idea of a computing-based financing project to Wall Street heavyweights.

Blackstone President Jon Gray told CNBC that AI computing will come to be viewed as a “financeable asset class,” much as mortgage lenders view housing. He added that demand for AI is outstripping supply and that AI usage at Blackstone portfolio companies has surged sevenfold this year.

BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said he believes the project marks the start of “the next future of financial engineering,” likening it to the birth of mortgage-backed securities in the 1970s. Some capital has already been raised, he added, and BlackRock expects to raise substantially more. Fink also stressed that it is critically important for the US to remain the global leader in AI.

Kim Jeong-a, guest reporter, Hankyung.com, kja@hankyung.com