IT News on October 8th: On the 7th local time, according to a source cited by The Information, NVIDIA is said to have discussed investing an additional $1 billion (Note from IT Home: Current exchange rate is approximately 6.712 billion RMB) in humanoid robot manufacturer Figure. No reports have previously disclosed this investment plan. Figure is seeking more financing, with a pre-investment valuation of about $38 billion (current exchange rate is approximately 255.073 billion RMB).

It is reported that NVIDIA is already an investor in Figure; a year ago, Figure raised over $1 billion (approximately 6.712 billion yuan at current exchange rates) with the same valuation.

The aforementioned individuals familiar with the matter stated that NVIDIA may also invest in two types of startups: those that help companies develop its Nemotron open-source models, and those that develop other AI applications. NVIDIA agreed to spend $6 billion (approximately 40.275 billion yuan at current exchange rates) to obtain software licenses for Poolside and hire its employees, partly with the aim of promoting the development of Nemotron. Employees of Poolside launched an open-weight Laguna AI model this year.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who is in charge of the investment strategy, has always been uneasy about the company's global market position. He previously admitted his concern that the demand for AI might cool down, or that products could emerge that are capable of replacing NVIDIA's chips, potentially causing the company to lose its dominant position, which makes him very anxious.

NVIDIA holds $99 billion (approximately 664.533 billion yuan at current exchange rates) in cash and securities, and also has a very substantial cash flow. Jensen Huang hopes to leverage the company's financial resources to foster the vigorous development of thousands of AI models, avoiding a situation where only a few models thrive in the future. By doing so, NVIDIA's financial performance is expected to become less dependent on OpenAI and a few other major customers. NVIDIA disclosed that in the six months up to July, three customers contributed 44% of the total sales.

An investor who is familiar with NVIDIA's transactions, investments in AI infrastructure, and applications said, "If I were involved in Jensen Huang's strategic decision-making, I would do everything in my power to promote thousands of models for thousands of different use cases."

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Following in the footsteps of OpenAI, Bezos and NVIDIA provide substantial financial support for the humanoid robotics company Figure AI.