In OpenAI Megadeal, Nvidia Discusses a New Business Model: Chip Leasing

OpenAI and Nvidia are discussing an unusual way to structure their new artificial intelligence data center partnership, under which OpenAI would lease Nvidia’s AI chips rather than buying them, according to two people who spoke to executives at the companies about it.

The discussion shows how Nvidia is considering new business models to sell its products to customers that are less proven and would struggle to buy the chips on their own, compared to large cloud providers like Google and Microsoft that make up a majority of the chip firm’s revenue today.