Nvidia is seeking to reduce its reliance on Big Tech companies by striking new partnerships to sell its artificial intelligence chips to nation states, corporate groups and challengers to groups such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google.
This week, the American chip giant announced a multibillion-dollar US chip deal with Saudi Arabia’s Humain, while the United Arab Emirates announced plans to build one of the world’s largest data centres in co-ordination with the US government, as the Gulf states plan to build massive AI infrastructure.
These “sovereign AI” deals form a crucial part of Nvidia’s strategy to court customers far beyond Silicon Valley. According to company executives, industry insiders and analysts, the $3.2tn chipmaker is intent on building its business beyond the so-called hyperscalers — big cloud computing groups that Nvidia has said account for more than half of its data centre revenues.