Nvidia is playing many parts in the AI gold rush, a top business guru says

Aug 13, 2026 10:19 PM - 1 hour ago 1

jensen huang nvidia logo july 2026

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Nvidia is playing galore positions connected the AI pitch, a starring business professor says.

"If AI is simply a modern-day golden rush, past Nvidia is not only trading the picks; they're besides shareholders successful the mines themselves, and now they're becoming the slope that's lending to each the prospectors," Rob Lalka told Business Insider successful an email.

Lalka, a business professor astatine Tulane University and the writer of "The Venture Alchemists: How Big Tech Turned Profits into Power," described Nvidia's meteoric emergence complete the past 2 decades, from making graphics cards for video games to becoming the world's astir valuable institution and the linchpin of the AI boom.

Nvidia has invested aliases committed tens of billions of dollars to OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, and has equity stakes successful scores of AI startups that bargain its hardware, Lalka said.

The chipmaker besides holds stakes successful data halfway specialists that request its processors, specified arsenic CoreWeave and Nebius, he continued.

Lalka highlighted Nvidia's latest financing agreement pinch immoderate of Wall Street's biggest names, including Apollo and KKR, to raise $500 cardinal for AI infrastructure built astir Nvidia chips.

Nvidia did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

Nvidia's web of deals has made it the beating bosom of the AI boom, arsenic it sells the semiconductors that powerfulness the technology, and invests successful and finances the array of companies buying its chips.

Several high-profile commentators person warned that the AI ecosystem's reliance connected Nvidia could origin problems.

Mark Cuban, the tech billionaire of "Shark Tank" fame, precocious posted connected X that Nvidia is playing a akin domiciled to the IPO marketplace during the dot-com roar arsenic it's "funding everyone and anyone."

"One breakthrough successful different spot provider, aliases a misstep, and it all could crumble," Cuban added. "It's genuinely scary."

Michael Burry, the investor of "The Big Short" fame who called the subprime owe crisis, has utilized the aforesaid affinity arsenic Lalka.

He wrote successful November that, for illustration Cisco during the dot-com boom, Nvidia was "at the halfway of it all, pinch the picks and shovels for each and the expansive imagination to spell pinch it."

Burry precocious posted connected X that Nvidia is "overreaching" arsenic it hustles to push information spending to "biblical proportions."

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has acknowledged conscionable really reliant the AI roar and the world system are connected his company's success. Describing online memes connected the taxable successful November, he said: "We're fundamentally holding the satellite together — and it's not untrue."

Nvidia has broadly met sky-high expectations truthful far. It grew gross by 85% year-on-year to astir $82 cardinal successful the 3 months ended April 26, fueling a 211% surge successful nett income to $58 billion.

Theron Mohamed is simply a London-based analogous connected the International squad astatine Business Insider. His sum spans finance, investing, wealth, markets, and the economy.Theron joined BI successful 2019 arsenic a newsman astatine Markets Insider and roseate to the rank of analogous earlier moving to the Trending squad past the broader International team. He previously covered tech, media, and telecom stocks for Investors Chronicle mag and had a little stint connected the Financial Times' Data team. He interned astatine the Wall Street Journal successful New York wherever he chiefly wrote for Heard connected the Street.Theron has freelanced for The Independent, The Telegraph, WIRED, and respective smaller publications. He holds an undergraduate grade successful surface science from the London School of Economics, and a master's grade successful publicity from Columbia University.Theron often covers Warren Buffett, Michael Burry, and different elite investors. He besides writes astir the world's wealthiest group and shares financial proposal from each mode of rich | and successful people.Email Theron astatine [email protected] and travel him connected X @theron_mohamed.