NVIDIA has announced a new round of investment in Thinking Machines Lab, an artificial intelligence (AI) enterprise founded by Mira Murati, the former executive of OpenAI. NVIDIA will also provide chips to this startup for training and running its AI models.
According to Zhitong Finance APP, $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ Announced a new round of investment in Thinking Machines Lab, an artificial intelligence (AI) enterprise founded by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati, and will provide the startup with chips for training and running its AI models.
The two companies stated in a Tuesday announcement that, under a multi-year agreement, Thinking Machines Lab will adopt NVIDIA’s upcoming Vera Rubin AI acceleration chip. Expected to be operational early next year, the chip will provide Thinking Machines Lab with at least 1 gigawatt of computing power (equivalent to the electricity consumption of approximately 750,000 households).
NVIDIA previously invested in Thinking Machines Lab last year. This time, no specific transaction terms were disclosed, nor was it clarified whether the funding was in cash, chips, or a combination of both. The investment was only described as a "significant investment." A spokesperson for Thinking Machines Lab declined to provide further details, while NVIDIA has not yet responded to requests for comment.
As the world's most valuable company by market capitalization, NVIDIA has recently engaged in several investment deals. The chip giant is leveraging its resources to drive AI implementation across industries, helping to usher in what it calls a "new industrial revolution." However, these investments have drawn attention due to their closed-loop model—NVIDIA investing in its own customers.
Additionally, according to reports from November last year, Thinking Machines Lab had sought a new round of financing last year with a valuation target of up to $50 billion. If achieved, its valuation would quadruple from $12 billion in July when the company raised $2 billion at a $12 billion valuation.
Murati stated in the announcement: "This collaboration will accelerate our efforts to create AI systems that users can shape themselves, truly making them their own. These AI systems will, in turn, help unleash human potential."
It is understood that Murati served as the Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI. Under her leadership, Thinking Machines Lab has recruited dozens of employees from OpenAI developers and launched its first product, Tinker, in October last year. Tinker helps users optimize large language models—the underlying technology behind chatbots like ChatGPT.
However, over the past few months, Thinking Machines Lab has faced a talent drain, with several employees, including its Chief Technology Officer, returning to OpenAI.
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