It's no secret that Nvidia (NVDA +1.34%) is a driving force in the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure build. Its graphics processing units (GPUs) and computing platforms are filling data centers with the power of accelerated computing.
AI models are being developed, trained, and commercialized using this compute power. Nvidia has been smart to invest its own profits in the ecosystem its products have helped create.
Nvidia's largest equity investment is with specialized cloud infrastructure company CoreWeave (CRWV +1.85%). Here's why that could be another lucrative move for Nvidia, and why investors should expect revenue and profits for the AI leader to keep growing.
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Nvidia is skating to where the puck is going
Nvidia invests in other companies within the AI infrastructure ecosystem. It focuses on start-ups and other companies aligned with areas within Nvidia's own strategic growth plans. That includes AI, gaming, autonomous vehicles, and other advanced technologies.
As is required by other large institutional investors, Nvidia files a Form 13F with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing its holdings in publicly traded securities. Its most recent filing showed investments in six different technology companies.
All six companies operate in areas where GPUs and related technologies are crucial. CoreWeave is its largest investment by far, with more than 24 million shares worth over $3.2 billion at recent price levels. Nvidia knows where growth is headed. As hockey legend Wayne Gretzky once famously said, "Skate to where the puck is going."
A huge new Nvidia partnership will benefit CoreWeave
A major recent announcement proves this point. Nvidia just revealed a strategic new partnership with ChatGPT creator OpenAI. Nvidia plans to invest as much as $100 billion in OpenAI. That investment will fund OpenAI's aspiration to establish and launch a minimum of 10 gigawatts worth of AI data center capacity. Those facilities will be filled with billions of dollars worth of Nvidia GPUs to support OpenAI's constantly improving AI infrastructure.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman summarized the long-term thinking this way:
Everything starts with compute. Compute infrastructure will be the basis for the economy of the future, and we will utilize what we're building with Nvidia to both create new AI breakthroughs and empower people and businesses with them at scale.
It won't just be Nvidia and OpenAI realizing benefits. The massive investment indicates just how much demand there is for data center AI infrastructure.
That's where CoreWeave comes in. The company is an AI hyperscaler providing cloud services through the quickly growing data center assets it owns and operates.
Nvidia knows there is still a huge imbalance between supply and demand for data center compute capacity. If it didn't strongly believe that, it wouldn't have committed such a large amount in its OpenAI partnership.
NASDAQ: NVDA
Key Data Points
CoreWeave investment should pay off
Nvidia is at the center of much of the AI infrastructure build-out. Owning a stake in CoreWeave is yet another tentacle for revenue growth. Nvidia's investment is a big part of its strategy to vertically integrate itself within the AI ecosystem.
Consider that CoreWeave and Nvidia just signed a $6.3 billion cloud computing capacity order. It even includes a guarantee that Nvidia will purchase any data center capacity not acquired by CoreWeave's own customers. Nvidia has positioned itself to gain not only from the advanced chips it sells, but also the platform that deploys them.
It's not a coincidence that the CoreWeave ownership represents over 90% of the equity investment value reported most recently by Nvidia. Nvidia arguably knows more about all the dynamics involved with the AI infrastructure revolution than anyone else.
Nvidia stock is trading up by more than 33% so far in 2025. As investors see the complementary growth of CoreWeave and data center infrastructure, along with Nvidia's own revenue strength, there could very well be more upward pressure on Nvidia shares.
