Nvidia’s Huang pitches $10 billion for European AI and says neoclouds are starved of capital

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang used the company’s GTC conference in Berlin to push for a bigger role in Europe’s AI future^4,9. In interviews on Thursday he explained the company’s $10 billion investment in European start-ups^1,2. His keynote on Wednesday morning was interrupted by protesters¹⁰.

Huang said demand for neocloud firms is “off the charts”, but that scarce capital is holding back their growth^2,3. “Demand is really high, they just need working capital,” he said, calling neoclouds a “good investment”⁸.

He said Nvidia is trying to get lenders to treat its chips as a “financeable asset”⁷. Huang also said he told UK-based neocloud Nscale to “work around the clock” to overcome early setbacks⁵.

Why it matters to investors

Huang is crisscrossing Europe with a multibillion-dollar checkbook and the aim of making Nvidia the indispensable backbone of the global AI economy⁶. As fears of an AI bubble rattle Wall Street, he is working to spread the boom beyond the United States and China by courting governments, bankrolling start-ups and cultivating new markets for Nvidia chips⁶.

The bet is that governments and institutions will want their own highly customised data centres running open models⁶. If it works, it could shore up demand for Nvidia’s chips⁶. His remarks in Berlin continued a carrot-and-stick approach toward countries he considers too slow⁴.

The funding problem Huang describes is visible in capital markets. AI has created a “supercycle” for equity capital markets, lifting activity across the ecosystem, but the head of equity capital markets at Citi sees near-term caution on initial public offerings after wobbles among neoclouds¹². Huang’s push to have chips treated as a financeable asset is aimed at that gap in working capital^7,8.

Huang also pointed to telecommunications networks, which he said are becoming a new layer of artificial intelligence infrastructure¹¹. He put the opportunity in telecom networks at 100 gigawatts¹¹.

What to watch

The key test is whether banks and other lenders begin financing neocloud purchases against Nvidia hardware, as Huang wants^3,7. Neocloud demand that Huang calls off the charts depends, on his own account, on that working capital^2,8.

In Europe, the question is how much of the $10 billion commitment flows into start-ups that build on Nvidia’s platform^1,2. Investors will also watch whether the IPO window reopens for neocloud operators after recent wobbles¹². Nscale’s progress after its setbacks offers an early read on execution⁵.