Nvidia's global power play
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is crisscrossing Europe with a multibillion-dollar checkbook and a grand ambition: Make his company the indispensable backbone of the global AI economy.
Why it matters: As fears of an AI bubble rattle Wall Street, Huang is working to spread the boom beyond the U.S. and China — courting governments, bankrolling startups and cultivating massive new markets for Nvidia's chips.
The big picture: The godfather of AI is trying to single-handedly build a new market for Nvidia chips, betting that governments and institutions around the world will want their own, highly customized data centers running open models.
- If it works, it could shore up demand for Nvidia chips just as another big group of customers — neoclouds — appear financially shaky.
Driving the news: Part showman, part salesman, Huang has spent the past week preaching the gospel of AI across Europe ahead of a keynote Wednesday at Nvidia's flagship conference in Berlin.
- In France, Huang announced investments in four startups and joked, whisky glass in hand, that he's "the biggest VC in Europe." President Emmanuel Macron welcomed him to Paris, while France's economy minister compared the AI revolution to the Gold Rush.
- In Britain, Huang channeled Oprah Winfrey while announcing stakes in five startups. "I am giving you money! And I am giving you money! And I am giving you money!" he shouted from the stage of a converted London church.
- In Sweden, Huang unveiled a supercomputer backed by the country's industrial elite, likening Nvidia's technology to a "time machine" capable of compressing years of scientific research into days.
- In Germany, Huang challenged Chancellor Friedrich Merz to loosen Europe's regulatory instincts. "There's nothing to regulate if the industry doesn't thrive," he warned Monday. "Give Germany a chance. Give this industry a chance."
Zoom in: At the heart of Huang's global strategy is "sovereign AI" — the idea that every nation should build and control its own AI infrastructure, data and models, rather than depend on U.S. or Chinese tech giants.
- In addition to roughly $10 billion in investments in Europe, Nvidia is helping build national AI ecosystems across Saudi Arabia, South Korea, India, Malaysia and Africa.
- For Huang, the prize is a vast new class of customers, including entire countries that see AI infrastructure as an economic and national security imperative.
Between the lines: Huang's global offensive comes at a precarious moment for the AI industry, with Wall Street increasingly questioning whether the technology's enormous promise can justify its astronomical costs.
- Shares and bonds of Nvidia-backed CoreWeave and other "neocloud" providers have plunged, fueling fears that the companies borrowing billions to buy Nvidia's chips may struggle to pay their debts.
- Investors are also scrutinizing a circular flow of money in which Nvidia helps finance the very companies buying its products, raising questions about how much demand is self-sustaining.
What to watch: Huang has emerged as the AI industry's chief cheerleader during periods of market turmoil, countering predictions of a bubble with assurances that demand is still accelerating.
- His Berlin keynote offers another chance to calm investors by arguing that the next wave of AI spending will come from governments treating the technology as a national necessity, not a speculative bet.
The bottom line: Countries racing to secure their independence in the AI age may find themselves more reliant than ever on one American company.
