Nvidia pursues $6 billion deal with Poolside for AI development

Nvidia is reportedly pursuing a $6 billion technology licensing deal with AI startup Poolside to bolster its open-weight AI model development. According to reports from the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, the deal involves paying $6 billion for Poolside’s technology and an additional $1 billion investment to secure an equity stake.

As part of the arrangement, Nvidia plans to hire over 100 engineers from Poolside to work on its Nemotron open-weight project. While Poolside will remain an independent entity with its current management, including co-founders Eiso Kant and Jason Warner, key developers will transition to Nvidia to enhance the performance of its Nemotron models.

This strategic move signals Nvidia’s expansion beyond semiconductor manufacturing into the broader AI software ecosystem. By focusing on open-weight models—which allow developers to run and customize AI in their own environments—Nvidia aims to build a robust ecosystem to compete with closed-model providers like OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as rising Chinese AI models.