Google’s Meta Talks Put the Ball in Nvidia’s Court

We’re getting close to the year’s end, when reporters’ minds turn to predictions for the new year. So here’s one: I predict sometime soon Nvidia will announce it is investing billions of dollars into Meta Platforms, in exchange for Meta committing to continue using Nvidia’s AI chips. This is just a wild guess, to be clear, but it’s based on how Nvidia has responded to past competitive threats—by throwing money at companies to ensure they remain loyal customers and don’t jump to a rival.

As we reported on Monday, Google has been pitching companies such as Meta on using Google’s specialized AI chips. Our report sent Nvidia stock sliding as much as 7% on Tuesday, and prompted this sweet note from Nvidia on X. The stock reaction is understandable: Investors have been jittery about potential competition for Nvidia since its AI chip business exploded in the middle of 2023, a few months after OpenAI released its world-changing ChatGPT. Since then Nvidia’s quarterly revenue has expanded to $57 billion from $7 billion. An array of potential rivals, including Advanced Micro Devices, AI chip startups such as Groq and Google are eyeing the market. But our report was the first sign that one of those rivals was really getting any traction. (For more on our story today, check out The Information’s TITV).