Binding SK Group and OpenAI! NVIDIA caught up in a $750 billion gamble, AI "circular financing" alarm rings again

```

Nvidia is advancing a new round of AI infrastructure deals totaling over $750 billion, which is accelerating global AI computing deployments while also reigniting concerns about "circular financing".

Nvidia and South Korea's SK Group announced a more than $500 billion AI cooperation agreement last Friday night, and are also negotiating with OpenAI on a guarantee agreement of up to $250 billion to assist the latter in leasing a data center project developed by a SoftBank subsidiary in Ohio. The disclosure of these deals has drawn widespread attention from the market.

The core concern of critics is: the companies invested in or held by Nvidia are often its main chip buyers. This model may distort business decisions, create negative incentives, and magnify industry losses if AI demand fails to meet expectations.

Gary Tan, a portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments, said, "Although Nvidia's investments and partnerships have strengthened market confidence in the long-term construction of AI, concerns about circular financing persist. Increasing amounts of capital are being used to support future AI clients and infrastructure deployments."

SK Group Partnership: $500 Billion Bet on Korean AI Infrastructure

The deal between Nvidia and SK Group exceeds $500 billion, covering Nvidia's procurement of memory chips from SK's Hynix and SK Group's purchase of Nvidia supercomputers. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a Bloomberg TV interview, "There will be $500 billion of business transactions between the two companies."

According to the agreement, the two sides will jointly build more than 2 GW of AI data centers on the Korean Peninsula, which is equivalent to the total energy required to supply power to 1.5 million households. The first "AI Factory", to be built by SK Telecom, is expected to go into operation next year.

For Nvidia, this partnership has clear supply chain strategic significance. High bandwidth memory chips (HBM) are in severe shortage due to the global surge in AI data center construction, with SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics being the two main suppliers worldwide. Nvidia will assist Hynix in designing the next-generation HBM chips to secure its supply of crucial components.

Additionally, Nvidia announced the same day a $1 billion investment in Korean internet and cloud service provider Naver Corp. to fund its AI data center under construction in Korea. This project will expand the facility's scale by more than three times, developed jointly by Naver and US private equity company Brookfield Corp., and will use Nvidia's AI computing hardware. Following the announcement, Naver's shares rose over 8% in a single day on the Seoul market.

OpenAI Negotiations: Nvidia May Provide $250 Billion Guarantee

The potential deal size between Nvidia and OpenAI is also immense. According to media reports citing insiders, Nvidia is discussing providing OpenAI with up to $250 billion in guarantees to help lease a SoftBank subsidiary-developed data center hub in Ohio valued at $50 billion with 10 GW installed capacity; meanwhile, Nvidia is also discussing $350 billion in chip procurement financing for OpenAI.

Billy Leung, a Global X Management investment strategist, pointed out:

"Nvidia providing guarantees for more OpenAI data center debt further deepens the already scrutinized supplier financing model. Rather than being a sign of demand, it is a reflection of the capital pressure in AI development."

If these guarantees are finalized, they will help address lenders' concerns about extending credit to this unprofitable, non-listed company, and also support SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son’s strategic ambitions to play a core role in AI. Currently, SoftBank's investment commitment to OpenAI is nearly $65 billion, and it has signed a $40 billion bridge loan—one of the largest of its kind in Asia-Pacific. However, SoftBank's increasing bets on a company where it has limited control have made investors uneasy.

Circular Financing Controversy: Cross-shareholdings Increase Systemic Risk

Outside doubts about Nvidia's transaction model are not new, but the pace is accelerating. Nvidia holds shares in OpenAI, Marvell Technology and other AI developers and chip peers, and has invested in data center operators like IREN Ltd., CoreWeave Inc., and Nebius Group NV. Since 2026, Nvidia’s announced deals in this category total more than $540 billion, not including the potential new agreement with OpenAI.

The same phenomenon is spreading across the industry. Google has provided lease payment endorsements for Anthropic at five data center sites, helping OpenAI’s competitor secure loans totaling about $35 billion. Multiple cross-shareholdings and mutual guarantees are increasingly binding the interests between AI companies, exposing the entire industry to potential risks of systemic shocks. Meanwhile, AI companies’ debt levels keep rising to support capital expenditures for data centers and chip projects.

In response to accusations of circular financing, Jensen Huang has consistently denied it. In January, discussing the CoreWeave investment, he said, "It’s only a small part of the total funding they eventually need to raise. To say this is circular—that’s absurd." He also emphasized that Nvidia’s investments in OpenAI, Anthropic, and others would drive industry development and bring investment returns to Nvidia.

However, as Nvidia becomes deeply embedded in the AI ecosystem upstream and downstream, its roles as chip vendor, equity investor, and guarantor are increasingly intertwined. The market has not shaken off concerns about the vulnerability of this model should demand slow.

Risk Disclosure and DisclaimerThe market involves risk; investments require caution. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and does not take into account any individual user's specific investment objectives, financial situation, or needs. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article suit their specific situation. Investments based on this article are at the user's own risk. ```