DistantNews
Support us
🇹🇼 Taiwan /Technology

Nvidia invests $7 billion in AI startup Poolside to counter Chinese rivals

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Nvidia is investing $1 billion and licensing technology for $6 billion from AI startup Poolside to build powerful open-source AI models.
  • The move aims to compete with Chinese AI rivals like DeepSeek and Kimi K3, and challenges US AI startups by offering lower-cost, customizable models.
  • Over 100 Poolside employees will join Nvidia to work on its Nemotron open-source AI project.

Nvidia plans to leverage a recent $6 billion technology licensing deal with AI startup Poolside to develop one of the world's most powerful open-source AI models, directly challenging Chinese competitors such as DeepSeek and Kimi K3. The agreement also positions Nvidia to compete with leading US AI startups like OpenAI and Anthropic, as open-source models are typically less expensive to operate and easier to customize.

The deal reflects Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's strategy to navigate multiple AI fronts and maintain market dominance. Poolside, founded in 2023 by software developer Eiso Kant and former GitHub CTO Jason Warner, announced a significant business restructuring in a letter to shareholders on August 20. The terms include Nvidia's $1 billion investment in Poolside at a $12 billion pre-money valuation and the $6 billion licensing fee for its technology. Poolside's founders stated the deal aims to ensure a future where "generative AI will not be a closed technology controlled by a few, but a technology co-built by the many in the open."

While Kant, Warner, and other Poolside leaders will pursue separate research projects, over 100 Poolside employees, including engineers, will join Nvidia. They will contribute to Nvidia's Nemotron project, which focuses on developing open-source models. These engineers will help enhance the large and complex models currently under development for Nemotron.

Despite Huang's long-standing support for open-source models, the US AI industry has largely prioritized closed-source models. This has raised concerns that companies and nations globally might adopt Chinese open-source alternatives. In response, Nvidia has intensified its open-source development efforts over the past six months, partly to counter the rapid rise of Chinese open-source AI.

The deal between Poolside and Nvidia aims to ensure a future where generative AI will not be a closed technology controlled by a few, but a technology co-built by the many in the open.

— Poolside foundersDescribing the vision behind their partnership with Nvidia.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog